Family Doesn't End With Blood
by Idris Amelia Song
Summary: AU. When a lonely, blue-eyed boy named Castiel moves in next door to the Winchesters, they make it their mission to befriend him and cure his lonesome-ness. But their new friend is hiding a dark secret...
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own the show Supernatural or any of its characters.**

* * *

_Lawrence, Kansas_

_Summer_

Dean Winchester sat down on the edge of the deck, panting slightly. The thick, hot summer air was draining his energy faster than usual, and all the running that was involved in his and his brother's latest romp wasn't helping. He'd recently been getting into old Clint Eastwood westerns, which inspired their current game's theme, although Sam didn't follow along as well as Dean would've liked (he kept asking what a 'varmint' was and why he had to be one). But, Dean couldn't complain. He wasn't antisocial by any means, and he had friends from school, but Sammy was and always would be his top priority, so Dean rarely hung out with kids his own age outside of school. Ever since their father's death, Dean considered it his job to be the man of the family and make sure his brother was never lonely or sad. And if that meant staying home and playing in the backyard with Sam during long summer afternoons instead of going out with other kids, then Dean was glad to do it.  
Dean watched Sam gallop as if he was riding a horse, then plop down on the grass tiredly, when suddenly Dean felt as if he was being watched. He scanned the backyard warily before catching sight of two small hands clasping the picket fence between their yard and the neighbours', along with incredibly blue eyes staring right at him underneath a head of messy black-brown hair. As soon as they made eye contact though, the hands and head disappeared. Not fooled, Dean walking over to the fence, stuck his head over the side, and looked down. Crouching in the grass was a small boy with a puppyish face, probably a little younger than him, looking up at him guiltily with those startling blue eyes.

"Hiya," Dean said, grinning.

"Hi," the boy finally responded quietly after a good six seconds had passed.

"Watcha doin' down there?" Dean asked, leaning his elbows on the fence.

"Watching," the boy confessed timidly. "Sorry," he added, as if afraid he'd get in trouble.

"S'okay," Dean assured him. "My name's Dean Winchester, what's yours?"

"Castiel Novak."

"That's a funny name," Dean said without thinking. Castiel's face fell a little bit. "Oh, no, don't get me wrong, it's nice," Dean added hurriedly. "Just kinda a mouthful. Can I call you Cas instead?"

"Sure." Castiel smiled shyly, standing up. Dean noted how short he was, only a few inches taller than Sam.

"How old are you, Cas?" Dean asked, trying to continue the conversation.

"Seven."

"Cool, your age is right between me and my brother Sam," Dean said, pointing to his little brother, who was still sitting in the grass. It looked like he was trying vainly to catch a ladybug. Cas watched interestedly. Dean continued, "He's five, and I'm nine. D'you wanna play with us? We're playing cowboys. Well, sorta. Sammy's not very good at being a bad guy. He doesn't quite understand what to do 'cause he's little and hasn't watched as many cowboy movies as I have. But you'll have fun anyway, prob'ly." Dean looked at the younger boy hopefully. Cas squinted a little and chewed on his lower lip, thinking.

"Okay," he finally decided. "I'll play with you. I guess my parents won't mind." He attempted to pull himself over the fence, but he almost fell backwards onto his rear instead.

"Here, lemme help," offered Dean, reaching out his hand. He managed to half-pull the skinny boy over the fence. Cas tumbled to the ground, but stood right back up immediately. He surveyed the Winchester's backyard with wide, unblinking eyes. The yard was all grass except for the wood deck covered by a patio covering. The grass was a tad bit too long and could use mowing, but it didn't look unkempt. In one back corner there was a tall elm tree, and in the other was a small garden, laid out with wooden beams.

"We can play wherever we want, just not Mom's fruit and vegetable garden," Dean explained. Cas stared at the garden while working up the courage to ask a question.

"Is your mom home?" he finally asked.

"Yeah, she's inside. Is yours?"

"No."

"What about your dad?"

"I live with my stepdad, and he's not home either." Dean looked at him incredulously.

"They left you all alone? You're only seven!"

"Yeah." Cas looked at the ground. Dean decided to drop the subject, noticing the boy's sudden mood drop.

"How long has your family lived here? I've never seen you around before."

"We just moved in two days ago. We used to live in Pontiac."

"Cool, is it nice there?" Dean asked, racking his brain to try and figure out where Pontiac was. He came up with nothing and decided to ask his mom later.

"It was okay." Cas shrugged. "But I like it here better already. I don't know why exactly." Dean was struck by how carefully enunciated all of Castiel's words were. There were no slurs, no words strung together. He couldn't help but wonder why a kid two years younger than him talked better, like a grown-up. Just then Sam walked up, holding something in his hands and looking triumphant.

"Dean, lookit! I finally caught the ladybug," he cried, opening his hands to reveal the small red beetle crawling on his palm.

"Good job, squirt," Dean congratulated, ruffling his brother's floppy chestnut hair. It needed a trim, Dean reflected, but Sammy was practically allergic to haircuts, he freaked out so much.

"My ladybug don't have spots though. Is it okay?" Sam questioned worriedly. Dean crouched down to examine the bug.

"Yeah, it's okay Sammy, that just means that it's a girl instead of a boy," he explained. Sam looked in wonder at the bug, before catching a glimpse of Cas and throwing him a suspicious look.

"Hi," said Sam cautiously.

"Hi," replied Cas. Apparently this was good enough for Sam, for he immediately relaxed and thrust his hands at Cas.

"D'you wanna see my girl ladybug?"

"Yes." Sam plucked it off his hand and put it on Cas'. Cas watched the bug crawl around on his thumb before it spread its wings and flew away.

"Bye, Mrs. Ladybug," called Sam, watching it fly.

"Sam, this is Cas. He just moved next door, and he's gonna play cowboys with us," Dean told his brother.

"I'm tired of playing cowboys, Dean," whined Sam. "I wanna catch more ladybugs." Dean sighed. The heat did nothing to improve his little brother's already spotty at best five-year-old temperament.

"Okay, fine," he muttered.

"I still want to play with you," said Cas hopefully. "If that's alright."

"Yeah, of course," said Dean, brightening. "You can wear Sammy's hat." He retrieved the cast off straw cowboy hat and handed it to Cas, who placed it awkwardly on his head, as if unsure exactly what to do with it.

Just then the screen door opened and Mary Winchester walked out, her wavy blonde hair pulled back in a ponytail, and holding a tray with two glasses of lemonade on it. Sam and Dean raced over to her eagerly, with Cas trailing behind hesitantly, looking wary.

"It's so hot, I thought you boys might want some lemonade," Mary said, holding out the tray to them. "There's more in the house if you want some after you've finished these." The two Winchester boys took their glasses right away, and Mary saw Cas' unfamiliar face. What she could see of it, anyway, for the younger boy was half hiding behind Dean.

"And who's this?" she asked pleasantly, nodding towards the brunette. Dean gulped down his mouthful of lemonade before responding.  
"This is Castiel Novak," Dean answered, sounding out each word carefully like Cas did just to see how it sounded. He found it too much work and resumed his regular speech. "But that's really long so I just call 'im Cas instead. He's seven, his family moved next door two days ago, and he's home alone right now so he's playin' with me." Cas' cheeks flushed pink, self conscious at all the attention.

"Hello, Castiel," Mary said, smiling, amused at her eldest son's detailed description. "Nice to meet you, I'm Mary. Would you like some lemonade as well?"

"Yes, please," he answered shyly, peeking out from behind Dean.

"Alright, be back in a moment." Mary headed back inside. Cas watched her go.

"Your mom seems nice," he told Dean.

"Yeah," Dean agreed. "She's the nicest mom in the whole world." Cas didn't answer, but instead just watched Mary through the screen door thoughtfully.

"Is your dad home too?" he asked. Dean's face fell slightly.

"No. Our dad died two years ago. He was a Marine, and I didn't get to see him that much... Sammy barely remembers him. But he- he died a hero. That's what Mom says." Dean kicked at the grass at his feet. It had been a long time since his father's death, but it been a hard blow. It was like a wound that had never fully healed. If you picked at the scab too much, it would start bleeding painfully again.

Cas placed a small hand on Dean's shoulder. "I am sorry," he said quietly.

"It's alright," Dean said, eager to move on from the subject. "It's been a while." Cas just nodded, something sorrowful in his bright blue eyes that looked too old for his young face. Mary came back holding another glass of lemonade, which Cas gratefully took, thanking her politely. He downed it in three gulps.

"This is really really good!" he told Dean excitedly. Dean laughed at the boy's enthusiasm. Mary chuckled as well.

"I'm glad you like it," she smiled. "If you want more just let me know."

"Okay, thank you," Cas said. Mary retreated back indoors where the air conditioning was.

"When was the last time you had lemonade, Cas?" asked Dean, amused.

"Um." Cas thought for a moment. "A while," he finally decided. Dean shook his head in wonder.

"Well, come over to our house more and you can have lemonade all the time."

"Really?" Cas asked, looking up into Dean's green eyes hopefully.

"Really," Dean promised. "Now giddyup, pardner, we got ourselves a bank robber to rustle up." Dean said the last part in an exaggerated southern drawl that made Cas laugh and recaptured Sam's interest. The three of them played their game, running around shouting and laughing. Cas was a bit stiff at first, but he eventually warmed up and was soon yelling almost as loudly as the other two.  
After about an hour of playing, a car pulled into the driveway of the Novak's house and shortly after a slender, boney woman with dark brown hair came to the gate in between the two yards, holding a brown paper grocery bag.

"Castiel!" she called sharply in a high, thin voice. Cas flinched. "Come help put away groceries and finish unpacking your bedroom." Cas turned sadly to the Winchesters.

"I have to go, my mom and stepdad are home," he told them. "Thank you for the lemonade and the cowboy games."

"Oh, okay," Dean said, his face falling a little bit in disappointment. "It was great meeting you."

"Bye Cas!" Sam cried, hugging the brunette tightly around his middle. "Come back tomorrow, okay?"

"If- if you want me to," Cas said happily, patting Sam awkwardly on the back and looking to Dean for confirmation.

"Absolutely! You can come over whenever. Every day, even. We'll do loads of cool stuff before summer's over, and we'll become even better friends." Dean told him, perking up. He couldn't stop a crazy grin from spreading over his face. The idea of having a friend who lived right next door was exciting. And, he could spend time with Cas and still keep an eye on Sam at the same time. Besides, being an older brother, protectiveness was naturally wired into him, and Cas seemed lonely. Dean made up his mind that he was going to change that.

"We're... Friends?" asked Cas quietly, staring into Dean's eyes seriously and tilting his head to the side slightly.

"Yeah, of course we are," Dean told him. Cas's eyes widened, then he smiled a little and looked at the ground.

"I don't think I've ever had a friend before," he admitted. Dean was shocked at this statement, but tried not to let it show. Instead he knelt to the ground so he could look the younger boy in the eye better, something he usually only did with Sam. Cas dragged his vivid blue eyes up off the ground to look at him.

"Well, you've got one now, okay? Me. So you're not alone anymore, and you don't need to be shy or scared. Got it?" Before Cas could answer, Sam slipped his hand into his and squeezed.

"You gots me too," Sam told him firmly. "So you gots two friends." A brilliant smile lit up Castiel's face.

"Thanks," he said happily to the Winchesters, beaming. "I'm glad you're my friends." He glanced reluctantly at his house and let go of Sam's hand. "I'll see you soon." He waved to the boys before he climbed back over the fence, a spring in his step, not even needing Dean's help this time, looking considerably happier then he had before venturing into their yard.

* * *

**So, that's the first chapter! Thanks for reading! This is my first stab at a multi-chapter story. Exciting, I know. I've already got it all planned out, it should be nine or ten chapters. Probably ten because I won't be able to stand it if it's an uneven number, haha. Updates will be about once a week, maybe a little sooner, maybe a little later. I'll do my best :) Reviews make me incredibly happy! Have a good life, see you next week!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: Guess what, I still own nothing.**

* * *

The next day, Dean kept an eye out for his small dark-haired friend when he and Sam went to play outside again. At around three o'clock Castiel's head reappeared by the fence and he climbed over once again, this time with the help of an empty crate he'd found in his new house's basement.

"Cas!" Dean yelled from under the elm tree and ran over to his friend. "I was 'fraid you weren't coming after all!"

"Hello Dean," Cas greeted, pleased that Dean seemed so happy to see him.

"CAS!" Sam shrieked, running over and launching himself at Cas in a bone-crushing hug.

"Oof," Cas grunted. "Hello Sam." He tried to wrap his arms around Sam as well, but found that the younger boy had pinned his arms to his sides in his over-zealous hug.

"Let 'im go, Sammy, he can't breathe," Dean laughed, and his brother obliged.

"Whazat on your face?" Sam questioned Cas, pointing. Dean followed his brother's gaze and saw a red, blotchy bruise on the left side of Cas' jaw roughly the size of a half-dollar.

"Yeah, what happened?" Dean asked, concerned. Cas' cheeks went pink.

"I- I tripped," he stammered. "There was a loose floorboard upstairs in our new house and I didn't see it and I couldn't catch myself and I hit the dresser."

"Ouch, I'm sorry," Dean said, wincing. "Hope it feels better soon." Cas looked at the ground. "Hey, don't be embarrassed, everyone has dumb clumsy moments like that sometimes."

"Right," Cas said softly, but his flush didn't go away. He eventually looked up at the tree that Sam and Dean had been standing under and saw a rope tied to one of the lower branches.

"What are you guys doing over there?" he asked, tilting his head to one side curiously.

"Climbin' the tree. Come and see," Dean grinned, taking Cas' hand and leading him over, Sam trotting alongside them. "This is a secret though," Dean explained to Cas when they got there. "Our mom doesn't like us climbin' up, so we only do it when she's not here. You have to promise, to swear on your life, not to ever, ever tell." Dean looked into Cas' eyes solemnly. "Promise?" Cas nodded gravely.

"Promise," he affirmed, an expression of extreme seriousness on his face. "Where is your mom, anyway?" he asked.

"Oh, she's at the hospital," Sam answered carelessly. Cas' eyes widened to the size of dinner plates.

"Working," Dean cut in quickly. "Working at the hospital. That's where she works. She's a nurse." Cas instantly relaxed, breathing out a puff of relieved air. "She works a buncha weird hours, and right now on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays she works for the whole day, and today is a Thursday. During the summer me and Sammy gotta be home alone for a long while, unless Aunt Ellen watches us. But we're okay. We manage. Anyway, wanna climb up?" Dean pointed to the tree excitedly. Cas swallowed nervously, looking up at the tall tree, but saw Sam and Dean's eager faces and took a deep breath.

"Yes, I would love to, thanks," he said weakly, not wanting to disappoint his new friends.

"Awesome! You can go first, since you're a guest," Dean said graciously, handing the end of the rope to Cas. Cas took it, trying to stop his hands from shaking. He looked up at the branch the rope was tied to. It wasn't that high up, he told himself. It really wasn't. And he most certainly was not going to chicken out in front of the Winchesters. He wasn't sure exactly what you needed to do to be someone's friend, but he was determined to prove to them that he was worthy. Cas straightened up and pulled the rope taut. He leaned back, made the rope support his weight, put his feet on the tree trunk, and pulled himself up. Then, slowly, just like a mountain climber, he walked up the tree, gripping onto the rope for dear life. Sam and Dean's whoops rang in his ears, and he couldn't help but let a triumphant grin slip over his face.

Finally he reached the branch (which really, he realized, wasn't actually that high at all). He clambered onto it then smiled down at the boys. "I made it!" he called down happily.

"Good job!" yelled Dean. "Move outta the way, we'll be up in a sec." Cas nodded and stared at the branches in front of and above him. He spotted one that appeared comfortable to sit on, and made his way over. It was an exciting sort of terror, almost, knowing that you could not slip or lose your footing on the branches or else you'd fall. He was quite proud of himself when he managed to get to his branch and sit on it without plummeting to his doom.

By the time he sat down, Sam and Dean had already made their way up the tree, for they were much quicker and had had more practice. Dean sat on a branch opposite Cas so he could face him, while Sam stayed on the lowest branch and began swinging his legs, singing quietly to himself. Dean chuckled a little bit, watching his brother.

"Funny kid," he said to Cas, nodding at Sam. "He's in his own little world sometimes."

"How did you get the rope tied to the branch?" Cas asked abruptly. The question had been bugging him for some time now.

"Oh, I got a chair from inside, and stood on it, and then was able to tie it from there. That's what I do every time," Dean answered, shrugging. Cas looked at him with awe.

"You could have fallen," he pointed out. Dean shrugged again.

"I haven't yet."

"You must be really brave," Cas said admiringly. "I wish I was brave."

"Aw, I'm sure you are." Cas shook his head but didn't elaborate. They sat in comfortable silence for a few minutes, enjoying the cool breeze that had picked up.

"It feels nice up here," Cas said pleasantly. "The breeze makes me feel like I'm flying. I wish I could fly." Dean shuddered.

"Not me. This is as high as I'll go. No flying for me." Cas gave him a surprised look.

"But you don't seem like you'd be scared of anything," he remarked, sounding almost let down. Dean flushed just the faintest bit.

"I'm not scared of flying, I just don't wanna," he said defensively. Cas looked down shamefaced, evidently worried that he'd angered his friend.

"Hey, it's okay," Dean said, noticing. "I'm not upset. Sorry." Cas looked back up with a small, relieved smile. "So," Dean said, trying to move on. "It's cool that you're talking more and stuff today than you were yesterday." Cas blushed a little. "But I know almost nothin' about you. So we're gonna play a game, okay? I'm gonna ask questions, and you're gonna answer them, then you can ask me a question. Got it?" Cas nodded. "First, what's your favorite color?" Cas thought for a moment, squinting, before answering.

"Blue. Dark blue," he decided. "Yours?"

"Same. But I like red too." Dean looked at Cas expectantly, waiting. After a few seconds of silence, he told him, "Now you're supposed to ask a question."

"Oh okay... Um... What's your favorite... Animal?"

"Horse, probably. Like a cowboy. And Dad took me horseback riding once, a long time ago."

"Dogs!" Sam piped up from the lower branch. Dean and Cas laughed.

"Mine is birds," Cas said. "But not small birds. Big birds, like hawks and eagles. Ones that have huge wings!" He spread his arms out wide to indicate the size, but then wobbled on his perch and quickly put his hands back to their previous spot. Dean laughed, for Cas looked a little bit like a bird himself, sitting on the tree branch, breeze ruffling his messy hair.

The two continued the back and forth questions (with occasional interjections from Sam) for a while, as it kept them both well entertained. Dean was hoping to get Cas to share a personal story, like about himself or his family, but the younger boy seemed reluctant to do so at first.

"Next question... What's your absolute favorite thing in the world to do?" Dean asked, hoping to achieve his goal.

"Reading," Cas answered promptly.

"What kind of books do you like?" Dean urged, trying to get the boy to really open up.

"Well," Cas began thoughtfully. "The books I'd always read were the ones in my father's office back in Pontiac. My real father, not Jim. In his office he had this tall, tall bookshelf filled with big books, most of them about real things like places and animals and things like that. My mom said I wasn't supposed to go in his office, but I really wanted to look at the books and learn how to read, so I would sneak in when no one was paying attention and try to read the books. Eventually I figured it out and I learned a lot about a lot of things." There was a happy, faraway look in Castiel's eyes as he remembered the past times. Dean was fascinated. Sure, he liked reading comics and good fantasy paperbacks, but he couldn't imagine learning to read on encyclopedias when he was only five or so.

"That's- that's really neat," he stammered, impressed. "Do you still read them?" Cas' happy expression faded.

"No, they belonged to my dad. Jim doesn't like those kinds of books." Cas frowned and looked at the ground, kicking his feet unhappily. Dean was deathly curious to know what had happened to Cas' real dad, but he knew from his mom that it was impolite to ask questions like that. Besides, Cas seemed to get upset whenever he mentioned his stepdad or his real dad.

"Well, there's a library downtown near the school," Dean said instead. "Maybe you could visit sometime and find the books you like there?" Cas smiled a little bit.

"Yes, maybe."

"I know how to read too. I'm gonna be allllll ready for kidnergarden in September," Sam said proudly, drawing out the L in 'all'.

"Kindergarten," corrected Dean.

"Whatever," Sam said, making a face at Dean. Dean rolled his eyes at his brother's attitude.

"What's yours?" Cas asked softly.

"What's my what?"

"What's your absolute favorite thing to do in the world?" Cas was giving him such an intense look with those crystal blue eyes, like he really was truly interested in what Dean had to say, it made Dean a little nervous.

"Uhh, well," he said. "I dunno if I can pin it down exactly... Oh wait, I guess I got somethin'. Pie is my favoritest food ever, and every autumn, Mom gets fresh apples so she can make apple pie, and she lets me help bake it. I like helping 'cause it's just a thing I do, y'know? I mean, I love doing things with Sam, but it's nice to have somethin' that's just for me and Mom. And I like baking, even though it's kinda girly," Dean finished, slightly embarrassed.

"That sounds like a lot of fun, and I don't think baking is girly," Cas said seriously. "There are lots of girls and boys who bake on television."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Dean said, perking up. "Thanks. Hey, Mom makes cookies sometimes even when it's not autumn and lets me and Sam help. You should come over and help too next time she makes cookies."

"Really? That sounds wonderful," Cas said, eyes shining. Just then their happy plans were interrupted by a cry from Sam.

"Deeeean!" he wailed, tears forming in his big hazel eyes. "I got a splinter!" He thrust his right pointer finger up towards Dean, who could see a small sliver of wood in the tip.

"Oh, gosh. Alright, you're gonna be okay Sammy, I'll get the splinter out. Can you get down first?"

Sam hesitated, about to say no, but then nodded, realizing the only way Dean could help him was if he got down, and causing a fuss wouldn't do any good. He used the rope to climb down from the tree, then sat down on the grass, sniffing. Dean went to the lowest branch, hung on with his hands only, and then let go, falling to the ground. He then looked up expectantly at Cas. "Coming?" he asked. Cas wasn't sure what to do. He wanted to jump down like Dean so Dean thought he was brave, but on the other hand, the floor suddenly looked a long ways down. He went back and forth on what to do, but finally he took a deep breath and swung down like Dean had. The wood scraped his hands and the impact from landing hurt his feet and legs, but Dean looked impressed at what the smaller boy had done.

"Nice," Dean praised. "Now stay here with Sammy while I go get the first aid kit." Cas nodded and crouched down next to the whimpering youngest Winchester. Cas patted his back gingerly, not quite knowing what to do. He was greatly surprised when Sam cuddled into him, seeking comfort and distraction from his pain. Cas put an arm around the boy, for it seemed like something he should do, and echoed Dean's earlier words. "You're going to be okay, Sammy. Dean will help you." Dean soon returned with his mother's large first aid kit. He set it down on the ground and opened it, then looked uncertainly at the various bandages, ointments, and other strange items. Recalling what his mom used whenever he or Sam had a splinter, he tried to locate the pinchy things whose name was escaping him. At last he found them and took Sam's hand.

"Owie, Dean, you're pinching my skin," complained Sam, jerking away after Dean attempted to remove the splinter.

"I'm doing my best, Sam," Dean grumbled, and tried again, with similar results.

"May I please try?" Cas, who had been silent throughout the whole experience, asked timidly after several more failed attempts. Dean shrugged.

"Sure, why not. Here." He handed the pinchy things to Cas, who took them and Sam's hand. Narrowing his eyes in concentration, Cas very carefully pulled the sliver of wood out of Sam's finger after two tries.

"Woah, how did you do that?" Dean asked in amazement. Cas shrugged modestly.

"I don't know, I just was careful I guess."

"Well, good job," Dean said. Cas ducked his head to hide a smile.

"We should probably put a Band-Aid on," he told Sam. "Just in case." Dean nodded and found and appropriately sized Band-Aid in the first aid kit and put it on Sam's finger.

"Thanks Dean!" Sam said, hugging his brother, all memories of the pain gone. "And thank you too, Cas!" Sam then happily hugged Cas, who hugged him back a little more naturally than he had yesterday.

"Yeah, thanks," echoed Dean. "We mighta been stuck here all day tryin' to get that splinter out of Sammy's finger if it weren't for you." Cas flushed, pleased even though he knew it was an exaggeration.

"You're welcome," he said. "I should probably go now, it's getting kind of late and I don't want my parents to get upset. I had fun today, see you tomorrow?" he asked hopefully.

"Yep," Dean confirmed, packing up the first aid kit. "See ya tomorrow." He watched Cas climb over the fence, and couldn't help but think that Cas was one strange kid. No friends, he read thick grown-up books for fun (which Dean realized was probably the reason why his way of talking sounded so perfect), he was sensitive and afraid to offend, though also desperate to prove himself. But Dean decided he definitely liked the kid, a lot. He could see many more happy summer days ahead of them.

* * *

**Woo, I got this posted earlier than I said I would! Yay! Thanks to all the reviewers/favoriters/followers so far! I've sent you all virtual hugs. Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed!**

**Coming up next: Lunchtime at the Winchester's, playing indoors, and an iconic piece of clothing makes a guest appearance...**


	3. Chapter 3

**Sorry the update took so long! I had awful writer's block. I knew what I wanted to happen, but I couldn't get it into words. I'll try to be quicker for the next chapter :)**

**Disclaimer: Nope. None of it.**

* * *

Castiel was even more eager to get to the Winchester's yard Friday morning, but when he climbed onto his crate and peered over the fence he saw that their backyard was empty. He felt a lump of disappointment well up in his throat. He figured they must not be home, but then saw movement through one of the windows. He was unsure if he should enter through the screen door or not, but then he decided that would probably be rude. Instead he got off his crate, ran around to the front of the house, and walked up to the Winchester's porch. He rang the doorbell, then stood back and clasped his hands behind his back expectantly, apprehensive for no particular reason.

The door swung open and Mary smiled at the sight of the small, anxious boy.

"Hello Castiel, how are you?" she asked.

"I'm alright, thank you. Um, Sam and Dean weren't in the backyard so I was wondering if it was still alright for me to come over and play?" Cas suddenly felt shy.

"Of course, you're welcome to come inside. I was just keeping the boys indoors because of the heat. This is the hottest it's been all week. Please, come in." She stepped aside to let Cas in, who thanked her quietly and entered the house. He looked around curiously. The two-story house was cluttered, but it was homey and felt inviting.

"Dean and Sam are in the living room," Mary told Cas, leading him there. The two were sitting at the coffee table drawing on paper with crayons.

"Boys, Castiel is here," Mary told her sons. They looked up, and Dean's face split into a smile.

"Hi Cas!" he said happily. "Sorry we weren't outside today."

"Hello Dean, hello Sam. It's okay, it is very hot out, I'm told."

"Come draw!" Sam insisted, shoving some crayons aside to make room for Cas, who sat down on the rug next to Dean and took a blank piece of paper.

"What should I draw?" he asked the older boy uncertainly.

"Whatever you want," Dean told him. Cas thought on that. Eventually he grabbed a green crayon ('Forest Green' apparently, which he though was awfully specific) and neatly filled in the bottom half of his paper. He was still unsure of what he was drawing, but he figured that grass was a good place to start. Once that was done he added 6 flowers, one for each color of the rainbow, then had an epiphany and drew bees hovering around each flower. Each bee was quite large and dwarfed the flowers in size, because he had wanted to get the stripes /just/ right.

"That looks awesome, Cas," Dean said, twisting his head to see his friend's drawing better. "I like it."

"Thanks!" Cas said, pleased. "What are you drawing?"

"The cars at Uncle Bobby's." Dean turned his paper around to show Cas his drawing. It depicted rows and rows of various cars in a line on a dusty dirt ground. "He lives in South Dakota, and he's a mechanic who owns and works on tons of cars, mostly old cars. He's not /really/ my uncle, but he was a close friend of my dad's so he's kinda like me and Sam's uncle. Look, that one's my car." Dean pointed to a long, black car that he'd drawn in the foreground. "Well, not my car yet, but it will be. It's my dad's Chevy Impala. She's a beauty! After my dad died, she made Mom sad, so she gave her to Uncle Bobby to take care of 'till I'm old enough to drive, 'cause Dad always said he wanted me to have her." Cas listened to Dean's story, enchanted.

"Why is the car a girl, though?" he asked at the end, tilting his head, puzzled. Dean shrugged, not having considered that.

"I dunno. She just is."

"Cas, Dean, look at my picture," Sam broke in, shoving his drawing to the center of the coffee table. He'd clumsily drawn several angels, with glowing wings and halos, surrounded by fluffy clouds.

"It looks great, Sammy," Dean told him.

"Thanks. See, they're up in heaven, and they're watching, like Mom says."

"What does your mom say?" Cas asked, studying the picture interestedly.

"'Angels are watching over you'," Dean answered automatically, without having to think.

"I like that," Cas said softly, taking the paper in his hands. "Do you think angels are watching over me, too?" He looked up at Dean with wide, curious blue eyes, and Dean could feel his heart melt.

"Of course," he told the boy firmly, patting his soft hair on an impulse like his mom did to him and Sam. Cas smiled at the touch but the smile faded quickly and he looked down.

"I think they need to watch a little bit more often, sometimes," he said to the rug.

"What d'you mean?" Dean asked, confused.

"If angels are watching they why do bad things still happen?" Cas said sadly. Dean hesitated, unsure how to answer.

"Um, I - I don't really know," he stammered. "Grown-ups say we just have to trust that heaven knows what it's doing and everything will be okay in the end. But I think maybe we should just change things ourselves if we're not happy with them. Y'know, maybe the angels are waiting for us to make stuff happen." Dean wasn't quite sure where he was going with that, but Cas nodded, accepting what he had said willingly, so Dean was satisfied.

Sam noticed the way Cas kept staring at the picture, and seemed reluctant to put it down. "Do you want to keep it?" Sam asked him. Cas smiled.

"Yes please, I like it very much." Sam took the picture back from him and signed SAM WNCHEZTR in block letters with a dark blue crayon before giving it back to Cas.

"Thank you, Sam," he said, folding it carefully and placing it in his back pocket.

"Castiel," Mary called from the kitchen. "Are your parents alright with you staying for lunch? It's almost noon."

"Yes," Cas replied. "As long as I'm home before my stepdad gets back from work, I can do whatever."

"Alright, is peanut butter and jelly okay?"

"That's great, thank you." The three continued to draw until Mary called them into the dining room for lunch. Cas sat next to Dean and took his plate and glass of lemonade from Mary gratefully. There was a pb&j sandwich cut into two triangles with the crusts cut off ("I figured you'd want it that way, like my boys do," Mary had said), fresh sweet cherries, and a Twinkie.

"What's that?" Cas asked Dean, pointing to the Twinkie. Dean gaped at him.

"You've never had a Twinkie?" he asked incredulously. Cas shook his head. "Oh. Well, they're one of the best things ever, they're little cakes with creme in the middle. Try it!" Cas cautiously bit into the end. "Do you like it?" Dean questioned. Cas contemplated, then nodded vigorously, smiling through his mouthful of cake. Dean laughed.

When they got to the cherries, Dean announced he could tie a knot in the stem with his mouth.

"No you can't, that's imposs'ble," Sam accused.

"Watch," Dean smirked, popping the stem in his mouth. Sam and Cas watched on the edge of their seats, and in approximately ten seconds Dean spit out the stem with a knot in the middle.

"Told you," Dean said. Sam's eyes widened and he immediately attempted the same thing, with much less succesful results.

"I want to try," Cas said, selecting a cherry whose stem looked extra long. He tried for almost thirty seconds, and finally managed a knot. Dean cheered.

"Lisa from school told me if you can tie a cherry stem with your tongue it means you're a good kisser," Dean the told Cas smugly. "I guess when I'm older I'm gonna be a real good at kissing girls and stuff. Are there any girls you wanna kiss?"  
"No, I didn't know very many girls in Pontiac, and I didn't like any of them like that at all." Cas hesitated. "What about you?"

"Lisa and Amanda and Carmen and maybe Bela," Dean answered promptly. "Mom says I'm not allowed to kiss any girls yet though."

"Oh," was all Cas could say, who found the whole idea of wanting to kiss anyone quite confusing. They eventually finished their lunches, chatting the entire time about various subjects, and put their plates in the sink.

"I'm gonna draw more," Sam said, heading back into the living room.

"Aw, I'm tired of drawing," Dean groaned. "Hey Cas, wanna go play in the attic with me instead?"

"Sure," said Cas, wondering what could possibly be of interest in an attic.

"Great, c'mon." Dean led Cas up the stairs and to the end of the hallway on the second floor to a door that opened to reveal a narrow staircase. Cas looked up dubiously.

"It looks dark up there," he remarked.

"Yeah, but there's a light. Are you scared of the dark?"

"No," Cas answered indignantly. "I'm scared of some things, but not the dark. That's silly. There's nothing in the dark to be scared of. It's just - not light."

"And you say you ain't brave," Dean said, giving him a playful shove. "C'mon, let's go up." The two ascended the staircase, single file, Dean in front. They reached the top, and by the faint light coming from a small window, Dean located the chain to pull and turn on the lightbulb hanging from the ceiling. The light sputtered on, and Cas was able to make out several boxes, large pieces of furniture covered in dropcloths, and other unidentified objects. all resting beneath the slanted ceiling. There were specks of dust floating around, made visible by the lightbulb's dim light. The air was hot and thick, so Dean cracked open the small window to try to get a breeze in.

"Pretty neat up here, huh?" Dean asked as Cas looked around in awe.

"Yes, it is," he replied in a hushed voice. "What's in all these boxes?"

"Lots of my dad's stuff, old clothes, Sammy's crib and things, and a buncha stuff that was here when we got the house, I think. Let's open some up and see, whatd'ya say?"

"Will your mom be okay with that?"

"As long as I put everything back when we're done, yeah." They then made their way to the nearest box that looked easy to open, and began pulling out its contents.

"Hey, I think these are some of Dad's clothes," Dean said. "I guess Mom never got rid of them. Oh, lookit this sweet jacket!" He pulled out from the box a worn leather jacket. "Y'know, I'm pretty sure I can remember him wearing this." Dean pulled the jacket on. It reached down past his knees, almost brushing the dusty floor. Cas laughed.

"It looks funny," he admitted. "But it also makes you look older." Dean grinned.

"I like it. It's comfy and it smells like leather and Dad," he said. "Okay, now you find something to try on." Cas found a different box of clothes and rummaged around until he selected something.

"Close your eyes," he instructed Dean, getting excited. Dean obliged. "Okay, now open." Dean took one look at him and burst out laughing. Castiel was wearing a tan trench coat that was so long, it pooled at his feet and made him look tiny., and the sleeves flopped over his hands.

"That - that looks great Cas," he managed through his laughter. Cas giggled.

"It's big," he pointed out unnecessarily.

"Yeah, I can see that."

"Was this your father's too?" Dean shook his head.

"No, I don't think I've ever seen it before. I got no idea where it came from. actually. It's a mystery!" Dean wiggled his fingers in Cas' face, which made the smaller boy laugh and trip on the trench coat, almost face planting the ground.

"You okay?" Dean asked quickly. Cas opened his mouth to say that he was fine, but sneezed instead from all the dust the two of them had raised up, causing them to laugh even more.

Castiel and Dean spent several hours in the attic, building forts out of boxes, turning Sam's baby crib into a pirate ship, playing pirates, who turned into spies, who turned into cowboys, who turned into Indiana Jones somehow. It was the most fun Cas had had at the Winchester's so far, romping around in the dusty old attic with Dean. Until he glanced out the small window and saw a car pull into his house's driveway and went pale.

"I'm sorry, it's later than I thought it was. I have to go, Dean," Cas said frantically.

"Okay, thanks for coming over! I had a lot of fun." Dean hugged Cas, who stood rigid, unsure on how to react, before putting his arms around Dean too.

"Goodbye." Cas gave a little wave then rushed downstairs. Dean watched him run next door through the window, wondering why he was in such a hurry. He shrugged and turned to the mess he now had to clean, wondering how much he'd have to pay Sam to get him to help...

* * *

**Eh, I could have fleshed this out more. I'm not super fond of how it came out, but hopefully you enjoyed. Thanks for reading! And thanks a million for the reviews/follows etc. They make me so happy!**

**Also, I went back and forth on doing Cas' or Cas's, and went with Cas'. I think I should have gone with the other one, but it's a little late now, haha. So, sorry 'bout that, if it's annoying you or something :P**

**Thanks again for taking the time to read! Leave a review if ya feel like it. Next chapter: An outing to the park.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Oh my gosh, I'm super late updating again. Sorry :( Real life can be really annoying and get in the way of important things, like fanfiction.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

* * *

Castiel didn't come over to play the next day, but Dean caught a quick glimpse of him in church on Sunday. When Cas sat down with his mom and stepdad across the aisle, Dean gave a little wave. Cas waved back and responded with a small smile. Dean saw a new bruise on his cheekbone and wondered if he'd tripped again. During the sermon, Dean fidgeted in his seat and tried to make eye contact with his friend, but Cas seemed to be listening intently to what the preacher was saying. After the service ended Dean wanted to find Cas to talk to him, but he couldn't be found in the thick crowd, and Dean quickly forgot about the bruise.

The next day Cas came over like normal, and played in the attic with Dean again. Soon they slipped into a routine; almost every day except for weekends Cas would come over and play with the Winchesters, and almost every time he'd have lunch with them too. The next Wednesday, a week later, when Cas entered the backyard, they seemed even more excited than usual.

"Cas! Cas! Guess what?" Sam cried breathlessly. "On Friday Mama's gonna take us to the park an' we're gonna get lunch an' you're invited too!"

"Yeah, we're gonna walk by the lake and go to the playground and buy food and stuff. Do you wanna come? It'll be tons of fun," Dean said hopefully. Cas' eyes had gone wide with excitement, and he nodded fervently.

"Yes, it does sound like a lot of fun!" he said, bouncing on the balls of his feet, excited. "I would love to go."

"Well, we'd love to have you," Mary inputted with a smile. She'd been sitting on the deck sipping iced tea, watching the boys. "Why don't you go ask your parents if it's alright for you to go?"

"They'll be okay with it," Cas said dismissively.

"I think you should still go check," Mary said firmly. Cas nodded meekly and ran back inside. Five minutes later he returned happily.

"My mother says I can go with you," he announced. Sam and Dean cheered and Cas beamed, already looking forward to Friday.

Thursday dragged by ever so slowly, even though he and Dean had a great time listening to some of Dean's dad's old vinyls. Finally Friday morning came and Cas was sitting in the back seat of Mary's car in between Sam and Dean, a little squished, but not minding at all. Wriggling with excitement, he watched the trees blur by and wondered how he'd gotten lucky enough to find such good friends. When Mary pulled into the parking lot, he practically climbed over Dean in his eagerness to get outside and experience the park. It was a sunny day with a few picturesque fluffy white clouds in the sky, and the temperature wasn't as high as it had been lately. Cas took in the trees, grassy hills, walking paths, bikers, and a small lake he could see in the distance.

"Can we go to the playground first Mama?" pleaded Sam, tugging on Mary's arm.

"Sure," she responded. "Come on Dean, Castiel." The four made their way along a paved path to the playground. Once they got there, Mary sat down on a bench with her book and Dean dragged Cas over to the monkey bars.

"Watch this," he said, climbing up and hanging upside down by his legs. Cas laughed as Dean's Batman t-shirt fell up, showing off his tummy. Dean climbed down from the bars and fixed his shirt, then he heard a plaintive cry of "Dean?" coming from the swings. He glanced over and saw Sam sitting on a swing, kicking his legs forlornly, staring at his brother with a hopeful expression on his face.

"C'mon, I gotta go push Sam," Dean told Cas, leading him to the swing set. "Oh hey, I know, sit on this one next to Sam, I'll push ya both."

"Okay." Cas readily agreed, thinking that even though he could swing by himself it would be more fun if he let Dean push him. He was not disappointed, for Dean took great pleasure in pushing both Sam and Cas extremely high, and trying to time them just right so they were swinging in synch. Sam shouted with pleasure, but Cas kept quiet, enjoying the feeling of cool air on his face. He pretended he was flying.  
After five to ten minutes of swinging, Dean said his arms were getting tired, so Sam and Cas got off the swing set. Sam went over to the slide and Cas trailed after him, but instead decided to sit under the slide and play in the sand. Dean noticed and crouched down next to him.

"What'cha doin'?" he asked.

"Making a sand castle, but it's more of a sand hut."

"Awesome. Can I help?" Cas looked surprised that Dean had even asked.

"Sure. Go get some leaves so I can put them on the top." Dean complied, and Cas felt special being in command. The two were soon working together, coming up with complicated ideas that could never be executed, but were fun to think of anyway. Mary watched them from the bench smiling, and took out from her bag an old Polaroid and snapped a picture of Dean and Cas under the slide, and Sam on top. None of them noticed, they were so caught up in what they were doing.

When it was 12:15, Mary took the boys to the bathrooms to wash their hands, then led them to the outdoor food place.

"What would you like, Castiel?" Mary asked, after getting Sam's order. Cas squinted at the menu, which was on a wood sign above the counter to order at.

"A cheeseburger, please," he decided.

"Same for me," Dean piped up. "And can me and Cas share an Icee? Please?"

"Sure, which flavor would you boys like? Cherry or Blue Raspberry?"

"Which one do you want?" Dean asked Cas.

"Um, I don't know, you can pick." Actually, Cas had never had an Icee before, but decided not to tell Dean that.

"Okay then, Blue Raspberry," Dean told his mother, who nodded.

"Go sit down at a table with Castiel and your brother," she instructed him. Dean took his two charges and led them over to a picnic table made of cement in the shade.

"After we eat we'll go walk around the lake area on one of the walking paths," Dean said to Cas.

"Sounds good," he replied. Mary returned with the food shortly and sat next to Sam. Cas took a bite out of his cheeseburger, and sighed happily.

"This makes me very happy," he said through his mouthful. Dean laughed.

"Good to hear, Hamburglar." Cas looked confused at the reference, but let it drop.

After everyone finished eating, Mary took the boys to the walking path that circled the small lake. Sam walked with his mother and held her hand, while Dean and Cas trailed behind, side by side. They stopped often to watch a bird, or pick up an interesting looking rock, and they even found a small, dark colored feather that Dean proclaimed was the exact same shade as Cas' hair.

"It musta come from a Cas-Bird," teased Dean.

"I'm pretty sure there is no such thing, Dean."

"Maybe there is and you just don't know it. Maybe all the Cas-Birds are in hiding. Maybe you /are/ one, and you're the last of your kind!" Dean poked Cas in the stomach to just make him laugh. He liked it when Cas laughed. It made his blue eyes look less aged and wise and more like a young boy's. Cas' face could get so serious and pensive at times, Dean thought it looked unnatural to see such an expression on a seven-year-old.

"Let's keep the feather and put it on a string, then you can wear it around your neck, Cas-Bird," Dean suggested.

"But you're not supposed to touch birds, they could have bacteria and make you sick -"

"Oh c'mon, it'll be fine. It's just a feather." Cas seemed unsure, but Dean managed to convince him that he would not, in fact, catch a zoonotic disease. (Which Dean hadn't even known was a thing until Cas said it was. Pronouncing it perfectly, of course.)

When they reached a particularly nice view of the lake, Mary told the boys to stand next to each other so she could take another picture. Cas hesitated.

"Are you sure you want me in the picture?" he asked worriedly. "I'm not your son."

"Of course I want you in the picture, sweetheart," Mary reassured him, patting his shoulder warmly. Cas smiled happily and ran over to stand next to Dean, who then threw his arms around Sam and Cas' shoulders.

"Alright, smile! One... Two... Three!" Right before the flash went off, a particularly large Canada Goose caught Cas' eye, and he glanced to the side to look at it. When the camera spit out the photo, the three boys clustered around it, impatiently waiting for the picture to develop. When the picture appeared, Cas made a small noise of distress.

"I wasn't looking," he told Mary apologetically. "I'm really sorry."

"Oh, don't be sorry," she told him, her heartstrings tugging at how sad he looked, and also nervous, as if afraid of being reprimanded. She gave him a quick hug on an impulse. "I love the picture, it's perfect. You're all smiling so nicely, see?" Cas looked at it again and nodded. "I think I'm even going to save it in the photo album." Cas beamed, pleased. Mary pulled a pen out of her bag and wrote on the back of the picture in looping handwriting, /Sammy, Dean, and Castiel at Lawrence Regional Park. August 12, 1988/.

They finished their walk around the lake shortly after, and headed back to the car. Castiel was hot, a little sandy, and his legs were tired, but he'd had a fantastic time. The drive home was quiet, everyone in a tired, content silence. When Mary turned on their street, Cas piped up.

"Thank you very much for taking me to the park and for buying lunch," he said.

"You're welcome, it was lovely having you with us, Castiel," Mary replied.

"Mom?" Dean asked. "Can Cas spend the night soon? It'd be really awesome. We could set up the old tent in the backyard and sleep out there." Cas' eyes widened.

"We could have a slumber party?" he asked excitedly. Dean made a face.

"No way, slumber parties are for girls." Cas tilted his head, confused.

"But you just said -"

"You can spend the night, but it's not a slumber party, it's a sleepover," Dean clarified.

"Aren't those the same thing?"

"Nuh-uh, one of them's cool." Cas opened his mouth, but before he could protest Dean's logic, Mary stepped in.

"Okay, that's enough boys. Yes, if it's alright with Castiel's family then I'm sure we could work out a sleepover before school starts." The backseat cheered in excitement, except for Cas, who remained silent but happy.

"I think it's nice to have friends," he decided, smiling in contentment. "I'm glad I moved here. Very glad."

* * *

**Sorry again for the late update! I shall once more make an attempt to get you the next chapter sooner. Hope you enjoyed this one! It's a bit shorter than usual, sorry. Thanks to everyone who reviewed/followed/favorited, you all get a great big virtual hug. I love you all, you're the ones who make me want to keep doing this :)**

**Thanks for reading!**

**Next chapter: Sleepover funnn...**


	5. Chapter 5

**Long break between updates, my apologies. This chapter took me a long time to write, but it's also my favorite so far, so, hope you enjoy!**

* * *

The next Friday to Saturday was secured as a date for the sleepover, much to the three boys' excitement. When the anticipated day came, Castiel knocked on the Winchester's door after lunch, with a cheap tan backpack that was almost as big as he was slung over one shoulder. Mary ushered him in, and Dean and Sam greeted him with hugs (Cas was still a bit awkward at hugging back, properly, but he was working on it).

"You can put your backpack in my room," said Dean, heading upstairs while Cas followed. "Oh hey, did you bring a sleeping bag?"

"No, I don't have one. Is that okay?" Cas asked anxiously.

"Yeah, it's okay, we have an extra." When they made it to Dean's room he shut the door quickly and pulled open the drawer on his nightstand.

"Here, I kept forgettin' to give it to you, but here's your necklace I made for you from our trip to the park last week," Dean said. He'd tied the dark black-brown feather to a length of slightly grubby string, and then tied the string into a necklace.

"Thank you, Dean," Cas whispered, in complete awe that Dean had done this for him. "I love it."

"Great," Dean beamed. He put the necklace around Cas' neck and adjusted it properly so the feather was right in the middle of his chest. "There ya go."

"I'll wear it every single day," Cas promised solemnly.

"I'm glad you like it that much," Dean said, chuckling a little. He patted Cas' shoulder. "Let's see if we can convince my mom to let us play with the sprinklers, what do you say?" Cas nodded and they left the room. Dean slid down the banister to get to the first floor, while Cas opted to simply walk down the stairs instead. They fetched Sam, then Dean found his mom in the living room, and whispered to Cas and Sam, "Look cute. Do puppy eyes or somethin'." Cas nodded, thought for a second, and then tilted his head and tried to look pleading. Sam was a natural at the puppy eyes, and had been taught by Dean how to wield this great power properly, so he had no problem looking absolutely adorable on command. Dean gave them a quick once-over and nodded in a approval before approaching Mary.

"Can we play in the sprinklers in the backyard? Pleeeease?" Dean begged his mother. She opened her mouth to say no, then took one look at Sam and Castiel's faces and their obvious attempts to look cute. She sighed, but smiled, amused.

"I suppose so, sure. Stay in the clothes you're wearing, afterwards you can just change into your pajamas. And why don't you fill up those water balloons I bought at the store on Wednesday?"

"Yesss, water balloon fight!" crowed Dean. He then grinned evilly at Sam. "I'm gonna kick your butt, little brother."

"No fair, you're bigger so you're better than me," complained Sam.

"Sorry squirt, that's just that way things work. You're always gonna be younger and smaller than me." Dean reached out to ruffle Sam's hair, but he ducked out of the way, scowling.

"Not forever," he said. "I'm gonna get taller than you someday, Dean."

"Yeah, right, I'll believe it when I see it. C'mon Cas, let's fill up these water balloons." Cas followed Dean to the kitchen sink. Dean stood on Sam's step stool to reach the sink better, and proceeded to fill up the balloons. After they were full, he handed them to Cas, but Cas could only hold so many at a time, so Dean fetched him a large plastic bucket to but the balloons in. Soon, they had the bucket filled with around three dozen water balloons.

"This'll be awesome," Dean said gleefully. Cas hesitated.

"Dean," he asked timidly. "How do you have a water balloon fight?"

"Oh, it's easy, you just chuck the balloons at each other." Cas' eyes widened in alarm.

"That sounds like it could be dangerous."

"It's not _dangerous_, the balloons don't_ hurt_, well, not that much anyway, they just burst on you and getcha all wet. It'll be fun." The younger boy still looked doubtful, so Dean put a hand on his shoulder and looked him in the eye. "Hey, you trust me, right?" Cas nodded, relaxing.

"Of course I trust you, Dean, more than anyone," he said reverently. Dean felt a funny glow in his chest at those words. He wasn't sure why he felt the same way about this kid that he did with Sam, a fierce protectiveness and deep caring. He'd only known him for a few weeks, after all. But just looking into those deep blue eyes, Dean knew that he would do absolutely anything for Cas.

"Well, uh, good," Dean said, remembering to speak and a little horrified to find a lump in his throat. "Now let's get this show on the road, whatdy'a say?"

With a lot of begging and pleading, Dean convinced Mary to let them use some of her old makeup supplies as 'war paint'. Using nubs of lipstick and worn down eyeliner pencils, Dean drew lines and circles and funny shapes on Cas and his brother's faces, keeping both sides symmetrical.

"Looks great, huh?" he asked, giving them a hand mirror to admire their faces. The two oohed and aahed appropriately at Dean's handiwork.

"Now we gots to do you, Dean," Sam said excitedly. Cas giggled at the idea of drawing on the older boy's face. Dean heaved an exaggerated sigh.

"Alright, go ahead then," he said, closing his eyes and bracing himself. The two used the tools at their disposal with vigor. Cas spent a lot of time with a black eyeliner on Dean's forehead, drawing a sun with a star in the middle, while Sam drew various squiggly lines everywhere else. When they were done there seemed to be more makeup than skin showing on Dean's face.

"All done," Sam proclaimed, shoving the mirror in Dean's hands. Dean opened his eyes and grimaced at his reflection.

"Oh wow guys, it's, um, awesome," he said. The boys giggled.

"Okay, are you ready to head outside and..." Mary entered the room, took one look at her eldest son, and burst out laughing.

"Look Mama, me and Cas did Dean's face!" Sam cried.

"Yes, I can see that," Mary laughed. "You did a fantastic job." Dean groaned.

"See, I'm the best big brother ever to put up with this," he said, pointing at his face. Mary bent down and kissed the top of his head.

"You certainly are, sweetie. Now that you're all painted up, clean up this mess and then you can play in the back." The boys set to work putting away the makeup supplies, and Cas couldn't wipe a smile off his face. Dean had said,_ 'I'm the best big brother ever_'. Not,_ 'I'm the best friend_ and_ big brother ever'_. Something about being lumped in under the brother category made Cas' heart swell with happiness.

"Three... Two... One!" Dean shouted, as Mary turned on the sprinklers. Cas flinched as the cool water hit his skin, and his moment's hesitation allowed both Sam and Dean to chuck a water balloon each at his middle (Mary had forbidden throws to the face). He stood there, getting wetter by the second, until Dean yelled, "Throw some back!" as he ran towards the bucket of balloons. Cas registered this and threw a plump orange balloon at Dean's back, with perfect aim. This caught Dean by surprise, and he laughed out loud.

"Nice!" he called. Cas giggled. Suddenly he felt water burst on the back of his head. He turned around to see Sam standing right behind him, clutching four balloons to his chest. Sam then pressed two of them into Cas' hands and whispered conspiringly, "Let's get Dean." Cas nodded, suppressing a smile. The two snuck up quietly behind Dean, who was bent over the bucket. With a loud battle cry from Sam, he and Cas threw their balloons at Dean, who shouted in surprise and whipped around, now soaked. Sam and Cas practically fell over laughing.

"No way you're gettin' away with that!" Dean cried, chasing after the younger boys with fresh balloons. The kept fighting and laughing until all the balloons were gone, then simply ran around in the sprinklers with glee, slipping as the ground became increasingly muddy.

After a while Mary came back out, turned off the sprinklers, and hosed the boys down to clean the mud off of them.

"Go change into pajamas then give me your clothes, I'll put them in the dryer. Yours will be ready to take home tomorrow, Castiel. Also, let's wait for the grass to dry before we set up the tent," Mary said.

"Wow, we're gonna wear pajamas even though it's daytime still?" Sam asked, impressed.

"Sure, why not? It is a party, after all, and a party calls for special circumstances."

"Awesome!" said Dean. "Cas, you can change in my bedroom with me." The boys all went inside changed into their pajamas, then Dean suggested they play some games from the Winchester's game collection. He told Cas he could pick first, and led him to their linen-cupboard-that-was-now-a-game-cupboard. Cas squinted as the boxes in front of him, only recognizing some of them. He spotted 'Twister', and remembered playing a similar game in kindergarten.

"We should play Twister," he said to Dean, nodding resolutely.

"Cool, let's set it up in the living room." They pushed the coffee table aside to spread the mat out and proceeded to play, enlisting Mary's help to spin the spinner while they contorted their bodies in awkward positions. Cas turned out to be quite good at the game, winning almost every round. After Mary had to leave to go start on making dinner, the boys played 'Sorry' several times as well.

Dinner was spaghetti and meatballs which Cas enjoyed very much. After they were finished eating, Mary took the boys to the backyard to set up the tent.

"Before Dean was born, John and I went camping often," she told Castiel, while snapping tent poles together. Dean and Sam were getting the tent fabric ready. "We always wanted to take the boys someday... But it never happened." She closed her eyes briefly and a flash of pain crossed her face.

"I'm sorry," Cas murmured quietly to her, placing his hand on her wrist in a comforting manner. "Missing someone is hard, I know. I miss my father a lot. He left me and my mother a year and a half ago." Mary put the tent pole down and pulled Cas into a tight hug, kissing the top of his head.

"Thank you, sweetie," she said into his hair. "And I'm sorry for you, too. I had no idea, baby." Cas was surprised by her sudden emotion, and even more surprised by the pet names. But he found that he liked them. He inhaled. Mary smelled nice, like a combination of flowers and fresh baked cookies. When she let go he was a little disappointed.

"Sam, it's upside down!"

"No iss'not!"

"Yeah, it is. The parts where the pole goes in aren't here."

"They're right there, see?"

"That's a different part!"

"Oh dear, I better go see what's going on," Mary said with a slight laugh. "Here, how about you finish snapping the poles together?"

"Okay," Cas said, eager to help. He liked Mary. She made him feel all warm inside.  
Mary sorted out her sons' argument, and soon after the tent was all set up and staked into the ground. It was a relatively small tent, but the three boys could fit inside with just enough extra room to be comfortable, but cozy. Mary got the spare sleeping bag for Cas, and the boys set up their sleeping bags inside the tent in a horizontal row, going Sam, then Cas, then Dean. It wasn't late enough to go to sleep, so Mary came up with the idea to watch a movie. The idea was met with approval.

"What d'ya think you wanna watch, Cas?" Dean asked.

"Um, whatever you want is fine with me."

"How 'bout Star Wars? D'you like that?"

"I've never watched it," Cas admitted. Dean shook his head.

"Ya know, I'm not even surprised at the things you say anymore. Well, you're gonna watch the first one tonight and get yourself educated, got it?"

"Okay," Cas agreed happily. He'd learned that pretty much anything Dean thought he should introduce to Cas he ended up enjoying. Except when he'd suggested he try glass of root beer. The bubbles made Cas' nose feel funny and he almost spit it back out.

Mary popped the movie in the VCR while the boys sat on the couch wrapped in blankets. Cas watched the movie with interest, but got a little distracted by Dean shouting "THESE ARE NOT THE DROIDS YOU'RE LOOKING FOR!" and several of his other favorite lines at the same time as they were spoken on screen. But he very much enjoyed the plot and had a great time. By the time the movie was over, Sam was complaining of being tired, so Mary sent them to brush their teeth before they headed out to their tent.

"Sleep tight, boys. I hope you had fun today. Try to get some sleep, alright?" Mary said, smiling.

"We will, Mom," answered Dean, right before she zipped shut the tent door. He waited until he heard the back door shut before whipping out his flashlight and grinning.

"Who wants to make shadow puppets?"

The shadow puppets kept them entertained for quite some time. Cas proved to be quite good at forming animals with his hands, his favorite being a bird he fluttered across the tent's wall.

"Look! It's a Cas-Bird again!" cried Dean, and the two of them had to stuff their faces into their pillows to muffle their laughter. Dean glanced over at Sam to see if he was laughing too, but realized he'd fallen asleep.

"Sammy's sleeping now," he whispered to Cas. "Hey, let's go look at the stars." Cas consented, and Dean dragged Cas out of the tent and into the grass, flopping them both down so they were lying on their backs in the grass, heads right next to each other, looking up at the stars.

There was definitely something magical about being awake when almost certainly the _entire_ rest of the world was asleep, Cas decided. He recalled the book he'd read on astronomy when he'd gone with the Winchesters to the library, and pointed out the constellations he spotted to Dean.

"That's Lyra, which means harp I think," he said, pointing. "And that one's one of my favorites, Sagittarius."

"Where?" Dean asked, looking in the complete wrong direction.

"No, not over there, _there_," Cas said, reaching out and physically moving Dean's chin with his small fingers so his head faced the right direction. "See? That one part looks like a teapot." He traced the constellation in the sky with his index finger, and Dean thought maybe he could see it.

"That's great, Cas," he said in a hushed tone. They both felt that it was necessary to speak quietly, so as not to wake anyone up. "I like being out here," Dean added. "It feels special... I dunno how."

"I understand what you mean," Cas whispered. "It is special." There were a few moments of comfortable silence as the sky glittered overhead, displaying all its cosmic glory for the two young stargazers. Cas spoke again, "Thank you for inviting me to spend the night. Actually, thank you for this whole summer. It's the best summer I've ever had in my whole life."

"No problem. I've had lotsa fun too. You're my best friend, I think, ya know that?" Cas' eyes widened as he turned to look at Dean, and even in the dark, Dean could see the vibrant blue.

"Best friend? You mean it?"  
""Course I mean it. I've never ever been this close to anyone except Sam before, and spending time with you is always super fun, even if you haven't watched any good movies. You have no idea how glad I am you moved in, buddy. Without you I'd probably be so bored, still playing cowboys with Sammy all day. Yeah, you're my best friend. I mean, if it's okay with you," he quickly added, unsure how the boy would react. Cas' answer was to curl up next to Dean and fling his arms around him tightly. Dean was surprised. Cas never hugged, and never even got the hang of hugging back when he was hugged. Yet here he was, gripping Dean tight like he was a rock in a turbulent ocean. Dean hugged him back, of course, and surprised himself a little bit too because he was Dean Winchester and he was nine and a half years old, and he did not _cuddle_, or _snuggle_, or anything silly like that. But, he told himself, this was different. This was Cas. _He_ was different.

* * *

**Thanks for reading! This chapter was pretty fluffy, haha, hope you didn't smother in all the fluff. Wow, I'm like halfway done with this story. Crazy. Huge thanks to everyone who's followed/reviewed/favorited, those emails make me squeal with happiness, I love you all! I really hope you're enjoying my fic. Thanks again! :)**

**Next chapter: Part 2 of the sleepover, and some cookie making!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Heyyy look at that, I'm updating close to on time. And it's a pretty long chapter, too. Enjoy!**

* * *

Dean would have been happy to fall asleep under the stars with Cas nestled into his side, but he knew his mother would not be happy, and they'd get all dirty besides. So he nudged Cas, who had just barely nodded off, and whispered that they should head back into the tent. They crawled into their warm sleeping bags, perfectly happy. About a half hour later, when Dean was just drifting in that dreamy state between awake and asleep, something jolted him fully awake. He sat up quickly and listened. He heard the sound again. It was a sort of muffled whimper, he decided, and with horror he realised it was Cas when he saw the younger boy trembling in his sleeping bag.

His eyes were squeezed shut and his breathing was heavy. Almost incomprehensible words spilled from his dry lips, mumbles of "Please don't" and "I'm sorry" and "No, please".

"Hey," Dean said, trying to shake Cas' shoulder, but he jerked away from his touch. "Cas. You're dreaming, wake up." Cas let out a moan and curled up into a ball, not hearing Dean.

"Cas!" Dean tried again. "You're having a nightmare! Wake up, Cas, please. I'm here, everything's okay." Cas started and his eyes flew open, brimming with tears.

"Dee?" he mumbled thickly, voice laced with sleep and tears. It sounded odd to Dean, who'd never heard his friend join together words or use baby talk or anything like that. It hurt his chest a little, to hear him sound so vulnerable.

"I'm here. It was just a nightmare, Cas," Dean repeated. Cas nodded in understanding and scrubbed at his face with his fist, but couldn't stop the flow of tears or the sobs that were starting to make his thin chest heave.

"Hey, hey, hey, shhh, calm down," Dean soothed. "Let's go inside and get you a glass of water, yeah?" Cas nodded again and stood up to follow Dean out of the tent. Dean glanced back at Sam, who, by some miracle, was still sleeping soundly, before leading Cas into the house.

He got Cas a glass of cold water, which he drank in the dining room while sitting at the table. The water calmed him down enough to get him to stop crying, and while he was drinking Dean fetched him some tissues to blow his nose with and a damp washcloth for wiping his face. If there was one thing Dean knew how to do, it was how to comfort and take care of a young child.

"You feelin' better?" he questioned after Cas had finished his water and blew his nose. Dean had wiped his face for him with the washcloth.

"Yes," Cas whispered. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be silly, there's nothin' to be sorry for, everyone gets nightmares. Do you want to talk about it?" Dean thought it might help Cas to get the dream off of his chest, but the boy shook his head violently.

"No," he said. "No, I can't."

"What?" Dean asked, confused. "Why not?" But Cas just kept shaking his head. Dean was puzzled, but guessed that maybe Cas was just half asleep still or something.

"Okay, you don't have to. Oh." Dean was struck with a thought. "Do... Do you wanna go home?"

"No!" Cas said again, forcefully. Dean looked even more confused. "Um, I mean, no, I don't. I would like to stay here please." Dean searched Cas' eyes, looking for something, anything, that could explain his sudden odd behavior, but his eyes were suddenly blank and emotionless.

"Well," Dean finally said. "You can stay, of course. Let's head back to the tent, if that's okay with you?" Cas nodded and got up to put his cup in the sink.

They walked back outside to the tent in silence, and as Cas was about to climb back into his sleeping bag, Dean put a hand on his shoulder to stop him. Cas flinched.

"Cas, are you sure you're okay?" he asked. Cas met his eyes, opened his mouth, closed it, pressed his lips together, looked down, then reluctantly met Dean's eyes once again.

"Yes, Dean, I am fine," he answered softly. He crawled in the sleeping bag and lay on his side, facing away from Dean. Dean gave a small sigh and also went into his sleeping bag, giving Cas' back one last look before closing his eyes and falling asleep.

Sunlight streamed into the tent, and Dean blinked in the light. He sat up and looked over at Cas, who was starting to stir, and Sam, who was still fast asleep. Nudging Cas with his foot, he muttered "Hey, you awake?" Cas opened his eyes blearily and looked up at Dean.

"I am now," he responded. He then also sat up and stretched like a cat, yawning.

"Sam," Dean called. His brother remained motionless. "Sam!" he tried again. No answer. With a sigh, Dean picked up his pillow and threw it at him. Sam let out a little squawk and sat bolt upright.

"Rise an' shine, Sammy!" Dean cried. Sam scowled and rubbed his eyes.

"I wasssill sleepin', Deannn," Sam slurred.

"I know, that's why I woke you up," Dean said. "I'm hungry. Get up so we can see if Mom's made breakfast." Sam perked up at the thought of food, and followed Dean and Cas indoors.

When they opened the back door, they were met with the delicious smells of cooking pancakes and sizzling bacon. Mary smiled at them from the stove.

"Good morning, boys. I was just about to come get you. How was sleeping in the tent?"

"Great!" Sam answered.

"Wonderful. Go sit at the table and I'll have your breakfast plated in just a few minutes."

The pancakes and bacon tasted amazing, and during the conversations at the table Dean kept glancing at Castiel to see if he'd talk what had happened last night, but Cas had either forgotten about it or was choosing not to bring it up. Either way, Dean tried not to be concerned for his friend and put it out of his mind. He was fine, right? He had to be.

After breakfast the boys brushed their teeth all together and Sam and Dean battled an almost full-scale war over the last paper cup before Cas nervously proclaimed that he didn't like conflict, which was when Dean shoved the cup in Sam's hands almost immediately, not wanting to upset Cas.

Then tragedy almost struck yet again when they changed out of their pajamas into their clothes.

"I forgot to pack a shirt," Cas cried, looking up from his backpack, eyes widening in horror. " Dean could almost see Cas' mental images of having to go the whole rest of the morning shirtless, and he would have laughed if Cas hadn't looked so terrified.

"You can just borrow one of mine," Dean told him instead. "It's no big deal." Cas relaxed instantly, and Dean threw him a dark red cotton t-shirt. Cas pulled it on, and it hung loosely off his thin frame.

"It's a little too big for me."

"Yeah, but you'll be fine."

"Okay, thanks." Cas packed up his backpack with all his belongings, then when he was almost done Mary knocked on the bedroom door.

"Here's your clothes from yesterday that you wore in the sprinklers, they're all clean," she told Castiel, handing him a neatly folded pile of clothes.

"Thank you," Cas said, taking his clothes. He inhaled and smiled. "They smell nice." Mary laughed.

"The dryer sheets are 'Fresh Spring Air' or something like that," she informed him.

"I don't think my clothes have every smelled so nice before," Cas remarked, putting them in his backpack. "Thanks again. Oh, also, when do I have to go home?"

"Whenever, I guess. I don't think I really had a set time. How about this; I was planning on making cookies with the boys today, so why don't you stay to help with that, then have cookies with lunch before you go?" Cas nodded excitedly, eyes shining. He turned to Dean.

"Like you said!" he cried. "You said we could make cookies ages ago when we were up in the- Ummm, I mean when we were under the tree. And now we're going to!"

"Yeah! It'll be fun!" Dean said, quite amused. The younger boy was bouncing up and down in his excitement.

"I'm glad you're excited. You can play for a little while before we start baking to let your breakfast digest, alright?" Mary said.

"Sounds like a plan," Dean replied, cheery. He pulled out a bucket of green plastic army men and dumped it out on the floor. "C'mon Cas, we're playing army."

"Okay," he agreed. They laid out most of the figures, Dean telling Cas about all the 'battle formations' he'd made up and named, like the Shifter, the Werewolf, and the Witch.

"Here's some big rocks I collected from the backyard, set them up like a wall," Dean instructed Cas after the formations were set up, handing him a dirty shoebox filled with large rocks. Cas took the rocks and prepared to stack them in rows, putting the biggest rocks on the bottom. "Hurry! The grenades are comin'!" Dean yelled, throwing a tiny tin foil ball at Cas' army. Cas laughed and placed the rocks faster, and with more force. As he was about to put a particularly heavy rock down, Dean caught sight of a toy soldior laying directly where Cas was about to put the rock, with its little plastic rifle sticking straight up.

"No, wait!" Dean cried, but it was too late. Cas smashed the stone down on the soldier. Dean shoved the rock aside and picked up the toy. Its plastic gun was bent horribly.

"He's ruined now!" Dean said angrily, shoving the toy at Cas for him to see. Cas' eyes widened with guilt as he realized what he'd done.

"I'm so sorry Dean, I didn't see it-" he began, but Dean cut him off.

"Yeah, 'cause you didn't look! This one's my favorite, he's my general, see, I even put my name on the bottom in marker when I first got the set. And now he's broken!" Cas' lower lip trembled.

"Please don't be mad at me, Dean, it was an accident," he pleaded.

"I don't care, you're not forgiven," Dean said, throwing Cas a dirty look. A small part of him on the inside_ knew_ he was being unreasonable, and it really was an accident, but the rest of him was tired from lack of sleep and upset that his favorite army man was broken. The bucket of army men had been a present from his Dad on his sixth birthday, right before he left for the Marines. It was the last present he'd ever gotten from his Dad. And now the general was bent. Dean crossed his arms and turned away from Cas, stewing.

Cas must have decided to clean up, because after a little while Dean could hear the sounds of the plastic soldiers being placed back in the bucket. He also heard the occasional sniff, and he turned around to look at Cas.

"Are you crying?" he asked. Cas frowned and rubbed his eyes with the heel of his hand.

"No," he said defensively. Dean felt a little bad for making the boy cry, and almost apologized for yelling at him right then. But his stubborn streak was showing through, and there was almost nothing he hated more than admitting he was wrong, and he just felt so _exhausted_, and so instead Dean muttered scornfully, "Baby."

What happened next Dean certainly was not expecting. Cas threw his whole body weight against him, hitting him as hard as he could (which admittedly wasn't very hard). Caught off guard, Dean fell over onto his back and Cas used the opportunity to hold him down with his hands.

"I am _not_ a baby!" Cas yelled at him, scowling ferociously. "Take it back!" Dean gaped, shocked into silence, and Cas continued, "You're just being stupid! It was an accident and I said I was sorry!" His normally puppy-ish face was crossed with anger and hurt, and Dean's own anger melted away and he instantly felt bad.

"Woah, easy, tiger," he said, gently pushing the small boy off of him. Cas didn't resist, and bit his lip to stop himself from crying again. "You're right, I'm sorry, okay? I shouldn't have yelled at you, it was just an accident, I know. I think we're both just a little tired is all from staying up late and then stargazing." Cas looked up hopefully.

"You forgive me?" he asked, all rage gone and replaced with vulnerability.

"'Course, I'll always forgive you." Cas smiled gratefully, then looked down sheepishly.

"I'm sorry for hitting you," he said in a small voice. Dean laughed and ruffled his dark hair.

"S'okay, it didn't really hurt at all."

"Good," Cas mumbled, relieved. Just then Mary opened the door and stuck her head in.

"I heard shouting, is everything alright?"

"Yes," Dean and Cas said in unison. Mary shook her head, smiling.

"Well, I cleaned up the kitchen, so are you ready to make some chocolate chip cookies?"

"Definitely!" Dean cried while Cas smiled huge. All previous disagreements were forgotten in the anticipation of the delicious task of baking cookies.

"Alright, Dean and Castiel, you're going to follow the recipe here, I trust you two to do it right. Sam, you're going to help me combine the flour, baking soda, and salt in this bowl for step three." Mary placed the Betty Crocker cookbook in the center of the kitchen counter so Dean and Cas could see the measurements. She had already gotten out all the ingredients and clean measuring utensils so the boys could reach them easily. They were all standing or kneeling on stools so they could work at the counter easier, and even though Dean had protested he was too old to need one, he ended up kneeling on a stool anyway so he didn't feel left out.

"Okay," Dean said, turning to Cas while Mary began helping Sam. "For the first step we need white sugar, brown sugar, butter, and shortening. Let's start with the sugar, and we'll each pick a different one. If we split up we'll be done sooner, and then they'll be baked sooner, and then we can eat them sooner." Cas nodded seriously, finding Dean's logic sound. "Which one do you wanna do?"

"Um, I'll take the brown sugar," he replied.

"Then take this spoon, you have to pack the sugar in the cup to get enough." Cas narrowed his eyes in confusion.

"How would I do that?" he asked. Dean pulled the bag of brown sugar and the 1 cup measuring cup towards them.

"Here, like this..." Dean helped Cas with the sugar, and ended up also helping him with things like cutting butter and cracking eggs, so the work didn't really get done sooner after all. Not that he minded. He rather enjoyed helping the younger boy out and teaching him.

Eventually the dough was all mixed up (and Mary let Sam and Dean sample a small piece each, and even though Cas fussed about salmonella, after being told by Dean to 'live a little', he ended up eating some, too). The next step was easily the most fun, as the three floured their hands lightly and began to roll the cookie dough into little balls with their hands. Cas didn't find any difficulties with this step, and rolled the dough enthusiastically.

The first batch was placed on the cookie sheet, and when Mary turned to put the sheet in the oven, Dean mischievously reached his hand into the bag of flour and flicked a small handful at Sam, who made a funny squeak sound as the white cloud settled on his face and hair. Cas covered his mouth with his hand to stifle a giggle.

"Oh, you wanna laugh? Then you're gonna get it too," Dean whispered teasingly, flicking some flour at Cas this time, just as Mary turned around.

"Dean!" she reprimanded. "What was that?"

"Sorry," Dean apologized. Mary sighed.

"We do _not_ play with food items like that, and we don't throw them. You should know that." Mary got out two dishcloths, and handed one of them to Dean. "Here, I'll clean up Sam, you use this one on Castiel." Dean took the dishcloth and began rubbing at Cas' face, mildly annoyed at getting chided.

"Ouch," Cas protested, pushing Dean's hand away. "You're doing it too rough."

"Okay, okay, I'll be more careful," Dean said. He tried to clean Cas up without hurting him, making his movements gentler and slower. Eventually he got most of the flour off of Cas' face and out of his hair.  
"Thank you, Dean," Cas said, smiling and looking at the older boy adoringly, as if he was just _so pleased_ that Dean cleaned him up and take the time to do it gently, and was doing so just for him. Once again Dean felt horribly guilty for yelling at Cas and calling him a baby earlier. He chewed the corner of his bottom lip and tried to smile.

"It's no problem, kid, really," he said, wiping one last bit of flour he hadn't seen before off his jaw. Mary finished wiping down Sam and nodded approvingly at Dean, finding Cas presentable.

"The cookies only need to bake for eight minutes or so. I'll get started on making some grilled cheese sandwiches, sound good?" Mary asked the boys, and was met with much agreement.

One lunch and what was arguably too many chocolate chip cookies later, Cas slung his backpack over one shoulder and prepared to head back to his house.

"Thank you a lot for letting me spend the night," he thanked Mary politely.

"Of course, it was a pleasure to have you," she replied. Cas turned to Sam and Dean.

"Thank you, too," he said to them. "I had so much fun."

"Me too!" Sam chirped. Dean hugged Cas tight.

"Thank you for coming over," Dean said. "I had the best time ever. We'll have to do it again some time, okay?"

"Okay, but we might not get a chance because school starts in just a few weeks," Cas said, making a face. Dean laughed.

"What, you don't like school? But you're so smart, and you like readin' and stuff," he said, lightly punching Cas' shoulder.

"I don't mind doing schoolwork, but the other kids at school in Pontiac teased me because they thought my name was funny," Cas answered, looking at the ground sadly.

"Castiel is not a funny name, it's cool," Dean protested.

"Cassseeealll," Sam tried, drawing out the sounds. "It's cool," he decided. Cas laughed, perking up.

"Cas-ti-el, not Cas-seal," Dean corrected his brother. Sam shrugged.

"Whatever your name is, it's cool," he told Cas firmly.

"Thanks, Sam," Cas said.

"Do you want me to walk you to your house?" Dean asked uncertainly.

"No," Cas replied quickly. "I'm fine, I can go by myself."

"Alright, thanks again! See you soon!" Dean waved and watched from the window as Castiel walked next door. The Winchester's house already felt a little emptier without the blue-eyed boy inside.

* * *

**Ah, young kids and their mood swings, especially when suffering from lack of sleep. I've experienced that way too often with my little sister :P I couldn't help but think there was no way these boys could stay up to eleven or twelve o'clockish at night and not be at least slightly temperamental. Also, poor little Cas, I felt bad writing that scene at the very beginning X( But, ya know, it must be done...**

**Anywho, thanks so much reading! Leave a review to tell me how I'm doing if you feel like it. As always, big thanks to everyone who has reviewed/favorited/followed so far, you're all amazing! I haven't been replying to reviews as much as I should, so if I haven't told you yet just know that I appreciate you very much! 3**

**Next chapter: Start of the school year...**

**P.S. The site's spelling/grammar check wasn't working for some reason -_- I proofread as best as I could but if there's a few mistakes I apologize.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Late update. Sorry folks!**

* * *

Summertime was coming to a close, and although autumn was approaching, the weather stayed decidedly warm. Castiel, Dean, and Sam had several more adventures together before school started, including another trip to the library, making microwave s'mores, a few more water balloon fights, and seeing a movie at the movie theater. All good times must come to an end, though. The Friday before school started, Dean asked Castiel how he was going to get to school while they were sitting on the backyard deck eating popsicles.

"Ummm," Cas thought. "I don't really know. I hadn't thought about that."

"Maybe you can carpool with us then!" Dean said, excited. Cas tilted his head, confused at the unfamiliar term. Dean sighed a little bit. "We could drive you to and from school," he explained. Cas' face lit up.

"Oh! Yes, that would be good," he said. "Then we could spend more time together since we're not going to really get as much of a chance anymore."

"You can still come over after school now and then," Dean reassured him. "And on the weekends sometimes too." Cas smiled.

"That would be good," he said again, licking a drip off his popsicle. "I like being at your house, and being with you and Sam. It's where I'm happiest." Dean grinned and slung an arm around his friend's shoulder.

"I'm happy with you too," he said. Cas leaned into Dean, with a small, content smile. Ever since the sleepover, he'd gotten better with physical affection, and now seemed to crave it. Hugging Dean, snuggling with Dean, laying his head on Dean's lap, leaning against Dean, standing right next to Dean, resting his head on Dean's shoulder, and just somehow ending up in Dean's personal bubble were all Cas' new favorite hobbies. Dean didn't mind, of course, and was glad that Cas had gotten so comfortable around him, but he did have a talk with him about how _other_ people might have a problem with personal space, just so Cas didn't run into any issues at school. Cas had insisted he didn't _wan_t to hug anyone besides Dean and sometimes Sam, but Dean had made sure he understood what personal space was anyway, just in case. The boy was already extremely nervous for second grade, mostly because he didn't want to get teased again, but he'd also somehow convinced himself that the work was going to be very hard for him. He fretted about it often, no matter how many times Dean told him he wouldn't have a problem.

"But Jim says I'm stupid," Cas let slip once, which made Dean frown in worry and reassure Cas that he was most certainly not stupid. After Cas' nightmare episode at the sleepover, Dean couldn't shake the nagging voice in his head that said there was something wrong with Cas, or something wrong at home. Dean would've liked to talk to his mother about it, but she was working night shift hours at the hospital almost every night because one of the other nurses was on maternity leave. Dean even ended up making dinner for him and Sam most nights because Mary left for work around dinner time. When she _was_ home in the evenings, she looked exhausted, and Dean didn't want to bother her, thinking she deserved a chance to relax. Once or twice Dean had asked Cas himself if everything was alright, and the younger boy had just answered that he was fine, but he always looked tense. And his eyes would go blank, like he'd carefully put up a wall and hid his true emotions and feelings and answers behind it.

Monday morning, the first day of the new school year, Cas walked next door to the Winchester's and squished into the backseat of Mary's car with Sam and Dean. Mary first dropped Dean and Cas off at the elementary school, then took Sam to the nearby kindergarten. Cas gripped his backpack tightly and looked up at the brick building apprehensively as he and Dean stood on the pavement.

"You'll do great," Dean reassured him, seeing his nervousness. "I promise. C'mon, I'll walk you to your class, okay?" Cas nodded, and grabbed Dean's hand.

"Don't leave until I'm all the way inside?" he said, the end turning up like a question.

"I won't leave," Dean promised. He felt bad that Cas was so scared, but he had to admit the wide, deer-in-the-headlights eyes and slightly parted mouth were kinda cute. They walked inside, Cas insisting on going slowly so he could get a good look at everything. Finally they reached the second grade classrooms.

"This is you, right?" Dean asked Cas.

"Yes, this is it." Cas licked his lips and let go of Dean's hand so he could stand on his tiptoes and peer around the door. Dean gently pulled him inside and glanced at the desk.

"Oh, you have Ms. Barnes, I had her, she's pretty awesome, and pretty good-looking, too," Dean whispered to Cas, who all but rolled his eyes at the last comment. "Let's see if she remembers me, yeah?" Dean walked up to the desk, Cas following.

"Hiya, Ms. Barnes," Dean said, giving her a charming smile. "It's me, Dean Winchester. D'ya remember me?" Ms. Barnes smiled, flicking her soft black curls over her shoulder.

"Dean, of course I do. Oh, you got taller, didn't you? How are you, sweetie?" Dean seemed a little deflated at the 'sweetie', and Cas couldn't help but cover his mouth with his hand to stifle his laughter. Ms. Barnes heard the noise and turned her attention to him. "And I'm assuming you're in my class this year?" she asked him kindly. "I haven't seen you around before. Did you just move here?"

"Yes. How did you know that?" Cas asked.

"Psychic," Ms. Barnes answered airily, tapping the side of her head. Cas seemed skeptical of this, but Dean quickly spoke before Cas could argue his doubts on his teacher's supposed ESP.

"This is Castiel Novak," Dean said. "He's really, really smart, so beware." Cas' cheeks flushed pink and he shoved Dean lightly with his shoulder.

"Well, it's a pleasure to meet you, Castiel," Ms. Barnes said. "Dean, honey, don't you have your own class to get to?"

"Oh, yeah," Dean said, remembering. "I should probably go. Seeya Cas, have fun!" Cas gave Dean one last, quick hug, but he didn't seem scared anymore. He was looking around the classroom with interest now instead of fear. Dean grinned, satisfied, and patted the kid on the back before heading out.

When Dean got back into the hallway, it was close to empty, only a few kids still lingering. Dean glanced around for teachers before running down the hallway to the fourth grade classroom. Then, of course, Dean ran past his room just as the bell rang and had to backtrack to find it. Finally he located it, opened the door, and slipped in. The teacher looked up (Mr. Shurley, Dean read from the thing on his desk), but was still only on "Bradbury, Charlie" for roll call. Forever grateful for the last name "Winchester", Dean slid into an empty desk in the middle of the room.

After roll call Mr. Shurley passed out an empty composition book to each student. "At the beginning of each class, you're all going to have fifteen minutes for free writing in your journal. You can write whatever you want, whether it's something that actually happened to you or fiction. Just know I'll be keeping them, so don't write anything you wouldn't want your teacher reading." The class gave a collective giggle. "And remember to put your names on the front, and write the date at the top of the page!" Mr. Shurley reminded. "Fifteen minutes start now." Dean wrote his name on the front of his notebook, then opened it to the first page. He wrote down the date, and then stared at the blank lines. He had no clue what to write. His mind kept drifting off to his brother and Castiel, hoping they were both having okay first days. Then Dean realized he could just write about them. He poked his tongue out a little and began to write.

_The two most important people in the world to me are my little brother Sammy and my best friend Castiel Novak. Castiel is a funny name, so I just say Cas. He's really small and really smart. Sammy is smart too, even though he's only five. Today is his first day of kindergarten. He was excited to go school because he wanted to be just like me. Sammy likes to be just like me. Cas wasn't excited for school because he didn't want to get teased. He said he got teased at his old school. Cas is only seven, but he's my best friend anyway. During the summer he moved next door to my house, and we hung out almost every single day and did cool stuff. My favorite thing we did was when he spent the night at my house..._

The fifteen minutes passed quicker than Dean had thought they would. He was only halfway through depicting every detail of the sleepover when Mr. Shurley announced time was up. Dean dropped his journal on Mr. Shurley's desk, almost hating to part with it.

The rest of his classes Dean gave an entire 50% of his attention to, and he was quite relieved when the bell rang for lunch. He sped-walked to get around the 'no running' rule now that teachers were around, and entered the cafeteria, looking around for Cas.

"Hey, Dean!" Benny Lafitte, Dean's friend called, waving from the table where he and the rest of Dean's friends were sitting. Dean waved back.

"I'll be there in a minute!" he yelled back. Finally he spotted Cas waiting in line to buy his lunch, clutching money in his hands tightly.

"Hiya!" Dean said, going over to stand next to Cas. "How's it going so far?"

"Very well!" Cas chirped. "Ms. Barnes is really nice, and I liked history a lot, and math, and science. It was fun!"

"See, I told ya all this stuff would be easy for you," Dean said while Cas beamed. "Hey, why are you waitin' in line to buy the school food? Didn't your mom pack you a lunch or somethin'?" Cas shook his head.

"No, she wasn't awake when I woke up for school, so I just took some money for myself."

"Well, this food tastes gross. Tomorrow I'll ask my mom to make an extra lunch for you instead, yeah?"

"Oh, y-you don't have to do that," Cas protested, flushing a little bit. "You don't have to spend extra money on me."

"It's just a lunch, it's no big deal," Dean said. "Why you worried about that?"

"Jim says I cost him too much money," Cas mumbled, his voice barely audible, as if Dean wasn't supposed to hear.

"That's dumb, you're a kid, your family is /supposed/ to spend money on you and stuff," Dean insisted. He'd decided he didn't like Cas' step father very much, and even though he'd never met him, he could tell by the things Cas sometimes let slip. "Tomorrow my mom will make you a lunch, okay?"

"Okay," Cas agreed obediently. He gave Dean a hug, burying his face into Dean's side. "Are we going to eat lunch together?" He looked up at Dean with big blue eyes, and Dean almost said yes before stopping himself.

"Aw, Cas, I'd love to, but I think you should try to get to know the kids in your class so you can make friends with some of them."

"But you're already my friend," Cas said, incomprehensive.

"Yeah, I know, and I love being friends with you, but don't you want other friends too from your class that are your own age?"

"I guess so," Cas said doubtfully. "There was a boy, Gabriel I think, who seemed okay and a girl named Meg who let me use her ruler because I forgot mine."

"There, see? You can eat with one of them." Cas still looked unsure, so Dean knelt down to look the boy in the eye, which usually made him listen. "C'mon Cas-Bird, I gotta push you outta the nest so you can learn to fly." Cas squinted, thinking, trying to process the metaphor, before he nodded his head, understanding.

"Okay," he said. "You should go to your friends, too, then."

"Alright," Dean laughed. "Sounds like a plan. Have a good lunch, uh, or try to at least. If you don't know what kinda meat it is, don't eat it, ya hear?" He ruffled Cas' hair as he stood up, and gave the blue-eyed boy a little smile and a wave as he left, then went to sit down on the bench at his table next to Benny, where his other friends had already all sat down. He was sitting in between Benny and his other closest friend, Lisa Braeden, and next to Lisa was Bela Talbot (Dean wasn't sure if he liked Bela or not, but he tolerated her anyway). Across from them were Ash Lindberg, Garth Fitzgerald, Charlie Bradbury, and Tessa McKeon. Dean didn't really spend time with his friends outside of school, except for projects and the occasional party, but he enjoyed their company very much.

"Who was that boy?" asked Lisa curiously, taking a bite of her ham sandwich.

"Oh, he lives next door, his name's Castiel," Dean said. "Today was his first day of school here, so I was just checkin' up on him." The conversations drifted to the assigned reading for english, and after a little while Dean tuned out and glanced around the busy cafeteria for Cas. He saw him sitting at a table talking with a girl who had pale skin, a round face and long, wavy brown hair. Well, /she/ was doing the talking, Cas was listening, seemingly fascinated. His eyes were wide with interest at whatever she was saying. Dean smiled, glad Cas had found someone. He continued eating his lunch, feeling happier than he had all day. Maybe he didn't need to worry about his friend so much.

On the drive home from school, Cas could not stop talking about his day. He talked about Ms. Barnes, whom he loved, and he talked about how easy math was, and how he was going to have to do a book report soon, and although he'd never done a book report before it sounded fun, and his new friend Meg Masters was really interesting, and history was his favorite subject. Then, whenever Cas would pause to think or take a breath, Sam would jump in with something about kindergarten. Dean was happy his brother and his friend were happy, but if they'd just shut up for a minute, that would be awesome.

"And how was _your_ day, Dean?" Mary finally asked after both Sam and Cas had run out of things to say.

"Oh, y'know, fine. It was... School," Dean answered without enthusiasm. "Mr. Shurley seems kinda cool. He lets us do free journal writing at the beginning of class."

"That sounds nice," Mary replied. "What did you write about?"

"Just those two," Dean said, jerking his thumb at Sam and Cas. "Although maybe tomorrow I'll write about how they're noisy an' annoying instead of how great they are!" Sam stuck his tongue out and giggled, but Cas actually looked hurt untill Dean reassured him it was just a joke.

After Mary parked in front of the Winchester's house, Cas walked next door to his place and gave a cheery wave goodbye. Dean couldn't stop the glowing feeling in his chest. He remembered the shy, awkward, timid Castiel that had first watched him and Sam over the fence, and thought about how much he'd changed. Now Cas could actually carry on a conversation without shyness, he seemed more relaxed around people, hugs weren't terribly awkward anymore, and he'd even made a new friend at school all on his own. Dean felt very proud to think he was the one who'd helped Cas out of his shell, and for the millionth time, he thought how glad he was Cas had moved next door in the first place.

* * *

**Kind of a filler chapter, but hope you enjoyed anyway! Thanks for reading! And, thanks as always to everyone who has favorited/followed/reviewed, you are all automatically super awesome okay? I grin like an idiot at my computer screen when I get a notification email from this site.**

**Also, 10 points to you if you know who Castiel's teacher is! ;)**

**Next chapter: What IS wrong with Cas, anyway?**


	8. Chapter 8

**This chapter is a little shorter than normal, sorry.**

* * *

School carried on for the three boys. Sam was having the time of his life at kindergarten and made several friends, and he had playdates with his friends Andy and Ruby often. Whenever he had worksheets to take home, he was always incredibly proud of the fact that he had 'big kid' homework to do, and when he got his first gold star sticker for doing a good job on his paper for counting mittens, he boasted to his family about it almost every day. Dean on the other hand had a near-allergic reaction to homework, and only parts of school he really enjoyed were his free journal writing time, recess, and lunch. Even lunch almost lost its appeal after Dean got into an argument with Bela Talbot, who had teased him for hanging out with a 'baby' all summer instead of doing 'cool' things. Charlie had to practically pull Dean away from Bela, he was yelling so much. Fortunately the cafeteria was so loud none of the teachers noticed.

It was probably the during the second week of school Cas started acting... Strange. He came to Dean, speaking in a carefully measured tone, and told him he didn't need to accept the 'charity' of the extra lunch Mary was making for him. Dean couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"Cas, it's not charity, it's a favor, and it's no big deal!" he said. He hated when his friend's expression went all blank like this. It gave him the distinct feeling Cas was lying to him, or trying to hide something.

"My mom doesn't mind making you a lunch, I promise," he continued. He reached out, placed his hand on Cas' shoulder, and squeezed in what he hoped was comfortingly. Cas winced and jerked his arm away, gasping a little bit.

"What's wrong?" Dean immediately asked, concerned. "Are you hurt or somethin'?"

"No- it's just a bruise, I'm fine," Cas insisted. Dean frowned but hesitantly decided to stay silent.

Then, at church on Sunday, Cas' stepfather was absent, and Cas' mother looked half asleep. Dean tried to wave, like he normally did, but Cas seemed to adamantly be avoiding meeting Dean's eye. On Monday he wasn't at school, and on Tuesday he barely spoke on the drives to and from school. Dean wondered if maybe he'd done something that had hurt the boy's feelings or made him angry.

Friday he tried to convince Cas to come hang out after school, but Cas said he couldn't.

"Next week," he said instead. "On Tuesday?" Dean agreed.

Tuesday came and Dean was excited, not having spent good, quality time with Cas for ages. Mary had to leave for work earlier than normal that day, so she dropped the boys off and left after giving Dean instructions on what to do for dinner.

"Can you stay for dinner? You could help me cook, it'd be fun," Dean said to Cas after his mom left.

"Yes, I'm sure that would be fine, and I'd like to help you," Cas said, smiling, the first real smile Dean had seen from him in a while.

After everyone's homework was completed, Dean pulled out a well-worn deck of cards and was going to teach Cas how to play Go Fish, but Cas was instead mesmerized by Dean's shuffling.

"How do you do that?" he asked in awe, watching the cards.

"Oh, it's easy, watch, I'll show ya," Dean said, starting over and going slow. Cas' eyes narrowed as he focused on the movement of the cards.

"Can you teach me how?" he asked.

"Sure," Dean said confidently. "Look, you cut the deck in half, then you press 'em up like this, and you push down kinda and they go like that." He was finding it very difficult to explain how to shuffle cards, and he could tell by Cas' expression that he was finding the explanation difficult. "Umm... Then you arch them up and they just kind fall into place, see?" Cas nodded uncertainly. Dean passed the deck over to him. "Here, you try." Cas cut the deck in half neatly, attempted the next step, and then promptly dropped the cards.

"It's okay, try again," Dean encouraged. Cas' tongue poked out at the corner of his mouth as he tried again. And again. And again.

"Well, it takes some practise," Dean finally said as Cas bent down to pick up the king of hearts, who'd fallen under the coffee table. Cas pouted, sticking his lower lip out when he sat back up.

"I wanted to do it," he mumbled "And I couldn't do it right. I can't do it."

"It's okay," Dean soothed. "Some other time I'll ask my mom to teach you like she taught me, she'll do a better job explaining it than I can, probably." Cas nodded, brightening.

The three played a few rounds of Go Fish before Dean said it was time to make dinner. He told Sam to watch some cartoons or something, then took Cas into the kitchen.

"Mom left us this box of macaroni and cheese," he told Cas. "I've made it a buncha times, so it'll be easy. You can help, but I'll take care of what has to go on the stove, 'cause I'm older and almost ten."

"You're not almost ten," Cas protested. "You won't be ten until January." Dean stuck his tongue out and tickled Cas' stomach.

"Well, I'm a lot closer to ten than you are!" he said. Cas giggled, hunching over and folding his arms over his stomach to protect from Dean's tickling.

Dean brought the saucepan of water to a boil on the stove and had Cas pour the box of macaroni in, then let him stir the noodles while they cooked. He then drained the macaroni and assisted Cas in adding the milk, margarine, and packet of cheese sauce. Shortly, the meal was finished.

"Good job buddy, you've successfully made your first Kraft 'The Cheesiest' Mac 'N Cheese," Dean congratulated Cas, who beamed from ear to ear and flushed with pride. Dean almost laughed. He'd been sort of joking, but Cas seemed very proud of what he'd done, so Dean pulled him into a one-armed hug as he scooped some macaroni into a bowl. Cas hugged him back rubbed his cheek against Dean's t-shirt just to make him laugh. It worked.

"What, are you a cat now or somethin'?" Dean asked, chuckling. This was the happiest he'd seen Cas in weeks.

"Meow," Cas replied. "Meow-mew. That's cat for 'I love you'." Dean squeezed him tighter, that warm feeling only Cas could create burning in his chest. Cas had never said that to him before.

"Aw, I love you too, you're my best friend and tied for the 'most important person in the world' award, you know." On an impulse, Dean added, "And I'm never gonna let anything bad happen to you, okay?" Cas stiffened and gave Dean one last quick squeeze before pulling away, biting his lip and looking down. Just then, Sam trotted into the kitchen.

"Deannn, Casss, is the mac 'n cheese ready yet? I'm starved," he whined. Dean sighed.

"Yeah, don't worry kid, I'm just puttin' it into the bowls right now. What d'ya wanna drink, milk or juice?"

"Milk please."

"What about you, Cas?"

"Um, milk too, please."

"Awesome. Go sit down and I'll bring you your dinner."

"Can we eat in the living room and keep watching TV? Scooby-Doo is on," Sam piped up.

"Sure Sammy, that's fine." Even though he would never admit it, Dean enjoyed watching the Scooby-Doo cartoons just as much as Sam did, if not more.

Cas wolfed down his bowl of mac 'n cheese and was finished before Dean or Sam.

"You still hungry?" Dean asked. Cas looked surprised that he had asked, but nodded. "Okay, there are apples in the fridge, you can grab one if you'd like."

"I can have more food?" Cas asked.

"Yeah, of course," Dean answered airily, distracted by the television. Cas stood up and headed to the kitchen. "Have as much food as you want," Dean called. If Cas hadn't been facing away when he said that, Dean would've seen the small boy's eyes widen in wonder and happiness.

After dinner the three had a dessert of strawberries and Cool Whip and watched another episode of Scooby-Doo. Then Dean looked at the clock and saw that it was getting late.

"Hey Cas, you should probably head back to your house, it's about seven now and it's gonna get dark soon."

"Do I have to? I'd rather stay here," Cas pleaded, looking up at Dean with puppy eyes.

"I know, buddy, but I don't want your parents to worry about you," Dean said. Cas sighed and chewed his lip while looking down.

"Okay," he agreed sadly. "Thank you very much for dinner and the cartoons and the card games, I had fun."

"No problem, thanks for comin' over, I've missed you. Have a good night!" Dean gave him a hug, then wiped a bit of Cool Whip off the corner of Cas' mouth. Cas said he could walk himself out, so with a wave and a small smile, he was gone. Dean couldn't help but notice that most of Cas' joy seemed to have evaporated. He wondered if Cas was just upset about not getting another sleepover, but didn't entertain the thought for long. Cas was more mature than that, Dean decided.

Cas wasn't at school the next day, but showed up the day after and acted as if everything was fine. He seemed to be forcing the smiles, happiness, and chatter in Dean's opinion. He decided that as soon as Mary's schedule went back to normal and she stopped working all night and sleeping for most of the day, he'd talk to her about whatever was going on with Cas.

But Dean never got that chance.

That Saturday, he was playing quietly with Sam on the floor in the living room while Mary was watching some cooking show on the television, half-dozing. Sam had desperately wanted to play with his stuffed animals, and even though Dean had protested against the idea, he ended up sprawled on the floor with his brother anyway. Their playing was interrupted when they heard seven quick, frantic-sounding knocks to the front door. Mary started awake and stood up from the couch to go see who it was, but before she reached the door there were a couple more knocks.  
"Alright, I'm coming," she murmured, rubbing her eyes. She then opened the door. "Oh, hello Casti- Oh my God, baby!" Dean jerked his head up and immediately dropped the stuffed dog Sam was making him play as, then ran to the front door. He certainly was not prepared for what he saw.

Standing on the porch was Castiel, who was crying, eyes red. His lower lip was split and swollen, blood staining his chin. On his right cheek was a hand-shaped mark and a bruise, which was bright red and also swelling.

"M-Mary?" he whimpered pitifully. "I need help."

* * *

**I feel like I could've done better on this one, sorry everyone :(**

**I'm going to be camping this weekend, so the next chapter miiight be little late.**

**Thanks for everything as alway guys, love you all 3**


	9. Chapter 9

**Hello, sorry it's been so long! I've been very busy, and I also wanted to get this chapter just right. On the bright side, this chapter is the longest yet. I couldn't find a good place to break it up into two, so it ended up being this one long one.**

**Just a warning, things are a bit less happy and fluffy in the beginning of this chapter. *****Potential mild trigger warning for discussion of child abuse.***

**Also, I have never been in a situation like this myself, so while I did research, I'm sorry if some of the details for certain parts are incorrect. I hope you enjoy :)**

* * *

_Standing on the porch was Castiel, who was crying, eyes red. His lower lip was split and swollen, blood staining his chin. On his right cheek was a hand-shaped mark and a bruise, which was bright red and also swelling._

_"M-Mary?" he whimpered pitifully. "I need help."_

Dean was too horrified to say anything, so he watched his mom pull Cas inside and shut the door in shocked silence.

"Cas, sweetie, oh my God, what happened to you?" she asked, kneeling down to Cas' level and quickly inspecting his injuries with he trained eye of a nurse. Cas tried to answer, but was having trouble speaking properly due to how hard he was crying. "Shhh, shhh, calm down baby, you're alright now," Mary soothed. "I'm going to get you cleaned up, then we can talk about what happened, okay?" Cas nodded pitifully, trying to breath properly and control his crying, and let himself be led into the dining room table.

"Dean, get me the first aid kit and an ice pack wrapped in a dish cloth," Mary told Dean, who practically sprinted to get the requested items. Stupid, stupid, stupid, he chanted in his head furiously. Someone had hurt Cas, and Dean was 98% sure it had been one of the boy's parents, and Dean had known something had been up with him lately, _why_ hadn't he talked to his mom sooner or tried harder to find out what was wrong? With images of Castiel's blood staining his thoughts, Dean couldn't help but blame himself.

"Dean," whimpered Sam, peering around the corner of the kitchen doorway watching as Dean wrapped the ice pack in a dish cloth. "What's wrong with Cas? Why's he hurt? Is he okay?" Dean stopped what he was doing and licked his lips, trying to come up with an answer that the five-year-old would understand.

"Cas is okay now 'cause he's with us. He's gonna be fine, don't worry, Mom's gonna fix him up," Dean said, opting to answer only the last question. Sam nodded, looking terribly sad, lower lip trembling. "Just stay in the living room an' let me an' Mom take care of him, alright?"

"Alright," Sam agreed, distraught but following his brother's instructions anyway. Dean grabbed the first aid kit and went back into the dining room. Mary took the ice pack and gently held it on Cas' lip, having already washed away the blood.

"Keep still and hold it here for a few minutes," she told him. "That will get the swelling down, then I can get the cut clean."

"Okay," Cas mumbled around the ice pack, taking it in his hand. He had calmed down a little bit, his crying had all but stopped and he was breathing evenly again. Five agonizingly silent minutes passed with no one addressing the elephant in the room. Mary removed the ice pack, and informed Cas, relieved, that the cut wasn't deep enough for him to need stitches. She then got some alcohol and a cotton ball from the first aid kit.

"This might sting a little bit, okay?" she said. Cas nodded, bracing himself, and the only sign of pain he showed was a small hiss when he inhaled sharply through his teeth. Mary put some Neosporin on the cut and stuck a Band-Aid on it. She then instructed Cas to now hold the ice pack against the bruise on his face.

"Okay, that's all I can do for now, you don't seem to have any fractures or anything, so we'll just keep the ice there for about 15 minutes then switch it out. It looks like you're going to be fine. The bruise will take a while to fade most likely, but there's nothing critical. Now," Mary took a deep breath. "Cas, sweetie, I need you to tell me what happened to you and who did this." Cas looked down at the hardwood floor, seeming hesitant. Finally he began to speak in a small voice.

"My stepfather," he answered, refusing to meet either Mary's or Dean's eyes. "He's only hit me a few times before. not very often. And never this hard, never this much. Just little, just small bruises or shoves. Only when he drinks that drink from the bottle that makes him angry. Or I do something wrong or bad. And he says that I deserve it because I'm bad and I cost him and my mother too much money and I'm worthless and my mother never wanted me and I'm the reason my real father left-" Cas took a shaky breath. "But I _know_ it's not right for him to hit me, even if I'm bad, because my real father never ever hit me. And my mother doesn't care, she doesn't care about me, she doesn't help me or tell him to stop, she mostly ignores me." Cas was getting himself worked up again, tears threatening to fall. "Before we moved he'd only hit me twice, when he had that drink, any other time he got mad he just yelled but then we came here I started playing with you and spending time with you, and he said if I told you he'd hit me I'd be in even more trouble. That's why I had that bruise on the day we played in the backyard, I didn't trip, I lied, I'm sorry." Cas finally looked up, meeting Dean's eyes tearfully. "I lied a lot, and I know lying is wrong, I'm so sorry!"

"It's fine," Dean said quietly, feeling the need to reassure the young boy. "I'm not upset, I understand." Cas seemed only slightly comforted.

"I don't know what I did today, but he'd drank a lot and was really mad, and I know I probably shouldn't be here, I'm sorry, b-but I need help, I don't want to go back, please don't send me b-back," he whimpered to Mary, properly crying now. Mary immediately took him into her arms, holding him close. She looked horrified, and her eyes seemed teary as well.

Dean felt like crying, too. He had a mixture of deep sadness and boiling rage inside on Cas' behalf. Neither Mary nor his dad had ever, ever laid a hand on either of their sons, and Dean had never thought that_ any_ parent would even _consider_ hurting their child like that. And, it was obvious to Dean that 'the drink from the bottle' was clearly alcohol. He had a vague idea of what alcohol was. He'd seen Uncle Bobby drink whiskey and things, and he had distant memories of his dad drinking beer. All Dean really knew was that it messed you up if you drank too much. He supposed that was what happened to Castiel's stepfather.

Castiel. His shy, sometimes quiet best friend with the blue eyes and funny name. Maybe he wasn't really shy and quiet. Maybe he was just scared all the time of getting in trouble or getting hit. Or getting yelled at and told he was worthless. And it seemed like Cas believed that. That part made Dean feel the saddest. No wonder Cas always seemed surprised whenever nice things were done for him. Without a word, Dean moved his chair to where his mom and Cas were and wrapped his arms around Cas too, resting the side of his face on Cas' back.

"You're not worthless," he said. "Don't ever think that about yourself, because you're not." There was so much more Dean wanted to say, but the words got stuck and turned into a lump in his throat. Mary gave a small, appreciative smile over Cas' head to her son.

"It's okay angel," Mary soothed Castiel, rubbing his back gently. "I'm not going to send you back, you're going to stay here," Cas' body sagged with relief. "Now, listen. You, Dean, and Sam are all going to go upstairs to Dean's room for a little while, alright? I need to make some phone calls. Keep the ice on your face."

"Okay," Cas sniffed. "Thank you, Mary." Dean moved so Cas could get off Mary's lap, but the minute Cas was standing Dean scooped him into his arms and picked him up. Cas was still just small enough that Dean could carry him without too much trouble. He seemed surprised at first, but then buried his face into Dean's shoulder, still holding his ice pack.

"You're not gonna get hurt ever again," Dean whispered into Cas' ear, carrying him to his room. "I promise. I'm never gonna let anybody hurt you. I'm gonna keep you safe."

Dean ordered Sam to save any questions for later, so the three boys were quiet in Dean's bedroom. Sam and Cas were sitting on the bed, and Dean was kneeling by the shut door, trying to hear what his mother was saying on the phone. He couldn't hear much, just scattered words here and there. After a few minutes he noticed how silent Sam and Cas were.

"Why don't you two play with toy cars or somethin'?" he suggested. "It's too quiet in here."

"I don't feel like playing," Cas said in a small voice. "I'm scared." Dean abandoned his post by the door and sat on the bed next to him.

"You don't need to be scared, I'm keeping you safe, 'member?" Cas nodded pitifully, leaning into the older boy. Dean wrapped his arms around Cas and held him tight. He wished he could take Cas' pain away, he wished there was something, _anything_ he could do.

Cas crawled into Dean's lap so he could cuddle better. Sam watched them, then took one of Dean's blankets and wrapped it around Dean and Cas.

"Here you go," he said helpfully, looking at Dean with his wide, sad puppy eyes.

"Thanks Sammy, I really appreciate it," Dean said, giving him a small smile. It was then he realized how uneasy and frightened Sammy looked, and he felt a little bad for not paying him more attention. Dean shifted the blanket and held out his free arm, inviting his brother in. Sam gladly snuggled up next to Dean and Cas, and Cas let out a little sigh of contentment at the extra body heat.

"Dean," Sam whispered after several minutes had passed. "I think Cas is sleepin'." Dean saw that he was right. Cas' hand holding the ice pack had slipped, and though Dean didn't want to lose the contact of ice against his injury, he thought maybe it was more important for Cas to rest.

Dean picked up Cas and lay him down on the bed, his small head resting on Dean's pillow. Sam curled up next to him without a word. Cas stirred awake at the movement and blinked blearily, looking up at Dean with confusion.

"Shh, don't worry, just go back to sleep. I'm watching over you," Dean whispered, sitting on the edge of the bed. Cas obediently shut his eyes, drifting back off, mumbling something about angels.

A little while later, Dean heard voices downstairs and wondered who they belonged to. Shortly after that, Mary knocked softly and opened the door. Dean saw a couple of grown-ups he didn't recognize standing behind. He moved in front of the two younger boys protectively, eyeing the adults suspiciously. No one was going to hurt Cas /or/ Sammy on his watch.

"Dean, these people are here to help," Mary explained. "They need to talk to Castiel." Dean hesitated, but trusted his mother, so he turned to wake Cas.

"Hey, Cas, you gotta wake up now," he said softly, gently shaking Cas' shoulder. The boy awoke with a start, sitting up, eyes wide. "It's okay," Dean soothed. "Everything's okay." Cas caught sight of the unfamiliar man and woman stood by Mary, and he instantly hid behind Dean, clutching the back of his t-shirt.

"Castiel Novak?" the woman asked, kneeling by the bed. She had short, dark hair and a kind face. Cas peeked out warily, with only his eyes visible. "My name's Jody, and this is Rufus. We just need to ask you a few questions, alright?" Cas looked unsure and glanced at Dean questioningly.

"Go on, squirt, they're here to help," Dean said, nudging Cas. He'd seen the words on Jody's shirt. 'Child Protective Services'. That sounded like a good thing. Cas was a child, and he needed protecting. Cas moved out from behind Dean, and Jody inhaled sharply seeing his face.

"Cas, you didn't keep your ice pack to your face!" Mary said, concerned. Cas' face crumpled and he stared at the ground.

"I'm sorry, Mary, I fell asleep," he whimpered. Mary seemed to realize her mistake and she instantly pressed a kiss to the top of Cas' head.

"It's okay, I'm not mad. I just want you feel better, that's all." She retrieved the discarded ice pack and dish cloth, giving them pack to Cas. "Here, hold it again for me, there you go, good boy." The group began to move to head downstairs. Dean stood up to follow.

"Dean, honey, I need you to stay up here with Sammy," Mary said quickly. Dean was about to protest but then saw his mother's eyes. She looked tired, and scared, and above all terribly worried. Dean nodded and glanced over to his brother, who'd also fallen fast asleep and hadn't yet woken up. _The kid could sleep through a marching band_, Dean reflected.

"Okay, mom," he agreed. The door shut behind them and Dean stared wistfully at the door, then glanced back at Sam.

"Just you and me now, kid," he said, sitting back down. Sam stirred slightly. Dean sighed heavily and watched the door anxiously, wishing for answers to questions he couldn't even form.

The next week passed in a blur for Dean. He barely knew what was going on half the time. Castiel moved in with the Winchester's temporarily, for they were 'emotional kin', as Jody put it. An old camping cot was taken down from the attic and set up in Dean's room, and made up with blankets into a bed for Cas to sleep on. Rufus and Jody and a few different people (Dean assumed they were also from the CPS) came in and out of the house, and in and out of Cas' house as well.

Mary took time off of work, Cas was excused from school, and after much pleading, Dean was as well. He wanted out less for selfish reasons and more so he could care for Castiel, who needed it. Sometimes he'd be perfectly normal, coloring in a coloring book or listening to Mary read from Aesop's Fables, but other times he would sit in the bedroom quietly and do nothing, just sit there on his cot and say he didn't want to do anything. Dean could see that he was scared, and he didn't know what was going to happen to him, but he was trying so hard to be brave.

"It's not that I miss my house," he said once. "I don't. I'm glad I'm not there anymore. But... I wish things were different. I wish none of this had happened. I wish everything was normal? I don't know what I wish. But I do know I like being here with you and Sam and Mary." And the Winchesters liked having him. No matter what, Cas was very sweet and polite. Dean loved having his best friend with him at all hours. He just wished in were under different circumstances.

Then, around a week, or maybe more, later, Mary said Cas had to go with her to a court. Dean had a vague idea of what court was. He knew there were lawyers and a jury and a judge who wore a big wig and banged with that small hammer and yelled 'Order in the court!'. Or, well, it was something like that.

Dean had to start going to school again. Missouri Mosley from down the street, who had watched the boys when they were younger, took him and Sam to and from school when Mary couldn't.

At school during lunch once, Meg, the girl Cas had befriended, stalked up to Dean with a scowl on her face.

"You're Dean, right? Castiel's older brother?" she demanded. Dean blinked, confused.

"Uh, no, I mean, yes, I'm Dean, but I'm his friend, not brother." he responded, bemused. Meg rolled her eyes, the gesture looking funny on her young face.

"Well, you might as well be his brother, the way he talks about you_ all_ the time," she said. Dean chuckled a little, but was secretly touched on the inside. "Anyway, where is Castiel? Why hasn't he been at school?"

"He's uh, he's not gonna be back for a little while," Dean answered.

"Why not?" Meg insisted.

"He's goin' through some stuff, alright? Personal stuff. He'll return eventually." Meg crossed her arms over her chest, huffing.

"Well, I want him here. He's the only person in the whole class besides me who's not stupid and he's my only friend. If you see him tell him to come back. Tell him-" Meg hesitated, shifting her weight from one hip to the other. "Tell him I'm sorry I said unicorns were girly and he can have my unicorn temporary tattoo if he wants. When he comes back."

"Sure, will do," Dean said, trying not to laugh. "I'll make sure to pass along the message."

"Good." Meg nodded, satisfied. "That's all I have to say to you. Bye, Dean."

"'Kay, bye Meg." The seven-year-old left as abruptly as she'd arrived. Dean found it funny how different she was from Cas. She was blunt and sharp, he was soft and polite. Opposites attracted, he figured. Then he conjured up a picture in his head of Cas proudly sporting a unicorn temporary tattoo and almost laughed out loud.

After Cas came home from the court sessions, he and Dean would go up and sit in the bedroom, just the two of them, and Cas would talk about what had happened that day while Dean asked for details about what the court was like. Cas did his best to answer.

"It's a big, big room and with lots of people in it. My mother and stepfather are there but I don't sit next to them. There's a lot of talking, and it gets boring. I get asked some questions, and they tell me this is a very serious situation and it's very important that I tell the truth, which is silly. I know it's important, and why wouldn't I tell the truth?"

One day Cas came back with news on a recent development for his case. "Today they were asking about any other family members of mine, but I don't have any grandparents or aunts and uncles or anything like that, so they asked about my real father, and where he was. No one knew. I think they're going to try to find out where he is."

"Well, that's a good thing I guess, right?" Dean asked. Cas frowned.

"I don't know. If they find him then I'll go live with him, maybe back in Pontiac or somewhere else. I don't want to be far away from you! Besides, what if my father doesn't want me? What if I /am/ why he left in the first place?" Cas' lower lip, which was almost completely healed, began to tremble. Dean tried to comfort him, but wasn't sure how. He was pretty sure that if Cas was being taken out of his mom and stepfather's care, the next person he had to live with would indeed be his dad.

A couple of days later Cas made a beeline for the bedroom to talk to Dean after he got home from the court.

"My father is dead," he said shortly. "He was in a car crash a few months ago."

"I'm really sorry, Cas," Dean said, feeling awful. Cas gave a little shrug, looking at the ground.

"It's okay. I don't remember him that much. But I'm a little sad because I have no family now." Dean put one hand on each of Cas' shoulders and looked into his eyes seriously.

"Yes, you do," he insisted. "Me and my mom and Sammy. You know, my Uncle Bobby once told me family don't end in blood. That means even if we're not related, we're still family, okay?" Cas' face lit up.  
"Really?" he asked happily. "We can be family?"

"Absolutely," Dean said firmly. Cas threw his arms around him, smiling one of those huge smiles Dean wished he'd see more often. Just then the door was gently pushed open.

"Sorry boys, I wasn't trying to eavesdrop, just coming up to see if you wanted any apples. But Cas, sweetie, Dean's right. You can be part of our family," Mary said, setting down the bowl of apple wedges she'd been carrying and also giving Cas a hug. Cas snuggled against her, but then looked up.

"Mary, what's going to happen to me?" he asked, troubled. "The people at the court don't want me to go back with my mother and stepfather, and my father is dead, and I don't have anyone else. Where am I going to live?"

"Well," Mary began slowly. "If your parents lose custody of you, then you will most likely end up at an adoption center."

"A what?"

"That's where you'll stay with many other children who don't have homes, or have to be away from their home for a while, and then eventually you could be adopted by a new family." Cas looked alarmed.  
"I don't want that to happen. I don't want a new family, I thought you were my family?" Mary stopped cuddling and looked at him thoughtfully.

"You know..." she trailed off, then nodded as if making a decision. "Dean, may you please leave us alone for a moment?" Dean agreed, shut the door behind him, and then immediately knelt and pressed his ear to the door.

"I don't know why I never thought of it before," Mary was saying. "But it seems so obvious. Now, listen to me, Cas. I'm about to ask you a very important question, but the decision is completely up to you, alright?"

"Okay Mary," Cas responded dutifully.

"Would you like it if I tried to gain custody of you?" A pause, in which Dean imagined Cas doing his confused head tilt thing. "That means that I would legally adopt you, you would legally be my son, and you would live here with me and the boys," Mary explained. Dean gasped, and he heard Cas do the same.

"Really? For real?" he said. "I would live here forever and ever and Dean and Sam would be my real brothers and you'd be my real mother and it would all be legal and real?"

"Yes," Mary laughed, and Dean imagined Cas' big blue eyes going wide as saucers.

"I would like that very, very much!" Cas cried. "More than absolutely anything in the world!"

"Okay baby, if that's what you want, then I will do everything I can to adopt you! You're a wonderful kid, and there is nothing I'd love more than to call you my son. I fell in love when I first laid eyes on you, angel."

"I love you too, Mary. You're nice. You're the nicest grown-up I've ever met. Can I tell Dean and Sam now that we might be for real brothers?"

"Sure." Dean heard Cas' footsteps coming towards the door and he quickly attempted to stand up and act like he hadn't been listening, but Cas would too fast. He flung open the door as Dean was only half way standing.

"Dean," Mary chided. "Don't listen at doors." Anything else she was going to say, though, was cut off by Cas chattering about adoption and hopping from foot to foot in front of Dean, who looked to his mom.

"Can you really do it? Can you adopt Cas?" he asked.

"It'll take some work, but I'm fairly positive his mother and stepfather's parental rights will be legally terminated and Castiel will be open for adoption. Rufus is actually an old friend of Bobby's, I recently learned, so I'm sure he'll do all he can to help us out, too." Dean couldn't wipe the grin off his face. "Now, it's not going to be instantaneous," Mary warned. "The process is going to take some time. The court case has to be finished and closed, and there will be paperwork to fill out, and house visits from the adoption agency, and so on."

"But it will happen?" Dean persisted. Mary smiled.

"Yes, Dean, I swear, I will _make_ it happen," she promised. Dean turned back to Cas, whose smile matched his own, and picked him up, swinging him in a little circle.

"We're gonna be brothers, we're gonna be brothers, you're going to live with us and join our familyyy," Dean sang, knowing how silly he sounded and not caring one bit. Cas was giggling. "You'll be a big brother_ and_ a little brother, oh, wait 'till we tell Sammy, he'll be so happy, and just think, we'll get you a real bed and we'll share my room, and maybe you'll get your own desk when you're older, and we can do homework together every day, and soon it will be Thanksgiving and we'll have Thanksgiving together and you can go meet Uncle Bobby and Aunt Ellen and little Joanna Beth, and you'll be safe for good, and..." Dean kept going on and on, but Cas stopped listening. Instead he simply watched Dean with shining blue eyes, the happiest he'd been in a long, long time. It was looking like for once in his life, everything would be perfect.

* * *

**Again, I apologize if any details are wrong about how all the legal/court/adoption etc. parts work. I kept it from Dean's POV so it would be slightly vague on purpose.**

**Anywho, this is what the story has been building up to, so I very much hope it was worth it for you all and enjoyed! I'm nervous just posting this... Well, thanks reading and for sticking with me this long, I appreciate it :)**

**Next chapter is the last one, and is more of an epilogue than a full chapter. Should be up soonish!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Yes, I changed my name. Yes, it's still me.**

**Well, this is it. It's kinda short, so you could consider it an epilogue instead if you'd like. Tiny bit of swearing, nothing you wouldn't here on SPN. Enjoy!**

* * *

Lawrence, Kansas

June 12, 1996

"C'mon, Sammy, hurry up!" Dean yelled, rolling down his Chevy Impala's window even though it was raining rather hard outside. He was idling in front of the middle school Sam attended, waiting impatiently for him to finish talking to some brunette girl. Sam started when he heard Dean's voice, then shot him a face and kept talking to the girl. Dean groaned.

"Who he's talking to, anyway?" he grumbled.

"Probably Ruby," Castiel offered. He was sitting in the passenger seat much more patiently than Dean was, feet tucked up underneath him, drawing something in his sketchbook. He'd always enjoyed drawing, but when he was ten Mary had seen some real talent enrolled him in some art classes, which he adored. Now it was rare to see him without a sketchbook of some sort. "Sam told me he likes her."

"No way." Dean practically stuck his head the window, trying to get a glimpse of her. "I never heard anything about this."

"Yes, because he knew you'd tease him about it."

"And you wouldn't?" Dean asked, pulling his head back in.

"No. I'm the supportive one. Besides, I'm nicer than you," Cas stated matter-of-factly.

"Watch it, kid," Dean said, sitting back down and playfully shoving Cas with his shoulder before calling out the window yet again. "Sammy, leave your girlfriend be and get in the damn car!" When Sam finally approached the car, his face was red underneath his jacket hood.

"Ruby's not my girlfriend, Dean," he insisted, climbing into the backseat.

"Whatever you say. Took you long enough to get over here, we've got places to be, y'know."

"I know, I was just trying to finish my conversation!"

"How was school, Sam?" Cas interrupted, abruptly changing the subject and being the peacemaker, like usual.

"Good. We had a math test today," Sam said, switching his focus to Cas.

"Did you do well?"

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure, it was too easy. Whatcha drawing?" Sam leaned forward to get a glimpse of Cas' sketchbook. He always enjoyed seeing his brother's artwork. Cas held the book up for Sam to see.

"Oh, it's not much, I just started it in free period today," he said. The paper depicted what an angel viewed from the back wearing a long coat, with huge black wings that looked more like shadows than actual wings.

"That looks so cool!" Sam said excitedly. "I love your angels. I think this one's my favorite so far." The subjects of Cas' art lately had all been angels, each with different colored wings.

"Hmm, maybe." Cas eyed his work critically. "Perhaps I'll redo it another time and color it with oil pastels." Dean glanced over to see.

"Awesome," he decided. "What's with the detective jacket?"

"Thanks and it's called a trench coat," Cas informed him. Dean's face looked blank. Cas sighed exaggeratedly. "You know, you wouldn't just ask Van Gogh 'what's with the sunflowers'."

"Alright, Vincent," Dean chuckled. "Anyway, it looks great." Dean was immensely proud of Cas' art, just like he was proud of Sam's good grades. He always knew his brothers were going to turn out talented.

"Dean, where are you going? Home is the other way," Cas said suddenly, narrowing his eyes in confusion.

"Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you. Today's the day before your birthday, so to celebrate your last ever day of being fourteen, we're going to Wendy's to each get a Frosty, and we'll share some fries." Cas' face split into a huge grin.

"Really? And Mom's okay with it?"

"Yeah, I told her this morning." Cas leaned back into his seat happily.

"You're amazing!" he declared.

"Yep, that is true," Dean agreed. He pulled the Impala into a parking spot at the Wendy's, and the three ran inside with their heads ducked to try to avoid the rain. Cas and Sam went to go pick a booth to sit down at while Dean ordered. Cas chose one next to a window, and automatically pulled out his sketchbook and began drawing the rain, without even thinking about it. Sam sat next to him and watched admiringly. Both he and Dean enjoyed Castiel's art, but Sam was very interested in the technique aspects like forced perspective and shadows. Cas was happy to talk about these things and more, and Sam always wanted to listen.

After not much time, Dean slid into the bench across from the two of them holding a plastic tray with three Frosties and large order of fries. Cas closed his book and looked at the food in anticipation. He was about to grab a fry but Dean stopped him.

"First, a toast," he said, smirking and holding up his Frosty. Sam cracked up and held his up as high well. Flushing a little bit, Cas finally followed suit. "Congratulations are in order, to Castiel Winchester, for surviving almost fifteen years of life, and, even more impressive, almost an entire freshman year of high school. Happy last day of fourteen, Cas." Cas laughed, red-faced, seeing some people from other tables looking over curiously at the three teenagers. Dean was intentionally making no effort to keep his voice down. What was the point of having little brothers if you couldn't embarrass them _some_ times, right?

"Thank you, Dean," Cas mumbled, smiling, and clinking his paper cup to both his brothers'. "It means a lot to me."

"No problem," Dean said airily, taking a french fry and using it to scoop up some of his Frosty, then popping it in his mouth. Sam wrinkled his nose in distaste.

"No, really," Cas insisted. "Thank you. I mean-" He hesitated, trying to form his thoughts into words. "It's been what, seven years? Yeah, seven, the adoption was official around March or April of '89. And I don't think I say thank you enough for- for everything. For accepting me into your life."

"Cas, don't," Dean cut in, realizing what he was saying. "Don't thank me like this has all been some favor or charity or something, alright? Because it's not like that."

"I know it's not. It's just- never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined something as perfect as you, and Sam, and Mom happening to me. But by some twist of fate you did happen, and I'm incredibly lucky. And it's been so long, I don't even think when writing my name anymore, you know that? It's Castiel Winchester. That's who I am. I haven't been anyone else in a long, long time, all thanks to you. You saved my life, figuratively, and let's be honest, probably literally as well." Cas winced a little bit, remembering things he'd tried to block out, then continued hurriedly. "So, thank you. You've taught me what family really means. It's being with people you love, and who love you back, not just about who you're related to."

"God, Cas," Dean said, speechless, staring at him in awe. Even now the kid still impressed him with the way he could speak better than someone his age should have been able to. Not to mention how heartfelt his speech was. "I don't even know what to say to that, except that you should know I feel just as lucky that you fell into my life, too."

"Yeah," Sam piped up. "I agree. I barely remember living without you." Cas smiled one of those glowing smiles that once upon a time were so rare, but now appeared frequently.

"Thank you," he said again. Dean reached across the table and squeezed his hand, green eyes smiling warmly.

"Alright, drink your Frosty before it melts, not-birthday boy, we've gotta get home so you two can do your homework," he said, sitting back.

"You have homework to do too!" Sam pointed out. Dean rolled his eyes.

"Yeah well, we'll see if that actually gets done or not," he muttered. Sam gave him a look, prompting Dean to add, "Bitch."

"Jerk!"

"Cut it out, both of you," Cas interjected, amused.

"Yes, Mom," Dean teased, throwing a fry at Cas' head. Cas ducked and laughed, feeling absolutely, completely, perfectly happy.

_~ Fin ~_

* * *

**Huge thanks to everyone who has stuck around for this long. I really, really hope you enjoyed reading! Also huge thanks to everyone who's reviewed, you make me so happy. I'm a little sad that I'm done with this story, but I'm excited to move on to other things. I've learned a lot writing this fic, so whatever I do next will be better :)**

**Speaking of which, next up on the table is a Destiel high school AU I've been planning for AGES (different 'verse, although who knows, I may come back here someday). I can't wait to start actually writing it down, because as of right now it's all just in my head.**

**Thanks again for all your support, I love you all 3 Bye, I'll see you soon :)**


End file.
